Cheeky Guys

The more time I spend with dogs, especially the youngest ones, the more I see their resemblance to children.

The puppies are cheeky guys who pretend to nip my bum and steal my mitts.

When they play together they are like pre-adolescent boys, always having to prove themselves. Everything is a contest of strength or will. Havoc gets carried away far too often, like the tough kid on the block, the one who can so easily turn into a bully. He doesn't recognize that an opponent who prostrates himself and squeals has admitted defeat, and that the victor should be magnanimous. I have had to pull Havoc off Remi far too often, and send him off on a time-out to calm down. But Remi is also a little boy who doesn't give up easily. He keeps coming back for more even when he has been soundly trounced.

I am reminded of my eight year old tomboy self. I was always ready for a fight, and I didn't often win. The loss I remember best happened when a neighbourhood kid much older than me was bragging about his father having invented the laundry detergent Duz. The slogan was "Duz that does everything right", and I sneered, "Yah, Yah, Duz that does everything wrong." He slugged me and I landed on my back.

The difference between me and Remi is that I didn't keep on taunting him.

The difference between the older boy and Havoc is that he didn't kick me when I was down.

I suspect that if I left them alone to slug it out to the end they would, once and for all, establish the pack order, but I can't do that with someone else's dog when the stronger dog is a Doberman. I have left Kenya with Havoc to sort it out and she has established herself as the boss.

Havoc doesn't stop challenging the top dog, mind you. With Shea he would smack him on the head until Shea growled, then snarled, then snapped. My home turned into a battleground ... or school playground . It was exhausting.

Female dogs are not pretty adolescents either. They are like fifteen year old girls can be ... bitchy ... snarky ... always giving lip ... but Kenya didn't treat other dogs that way. It was me who was on the receiving end of her nasty tongue ... just like an adolescent girl giving her mother a hard time and being sweet as pie to her peers.

Those boys will grow up. Kenya has. Then who will pretend to nip my bum?