A Really Big Lap Dog

The kids all have different reactions and relationships with Grandma and Gichan’s dog Talli – who is still quite a puppy.  She’s not a year old yet, and acts like an unruly preschooler a lot of the time.  It’s kind of no wonder that she and Rerun clash quite a bit.

Of course, this is exacerbated by Rerun’s insistence on wrestling the dog (who is bigger and stronger than he is) and biting the dog.  Yes, you read that right.  And most of the time, he just gets a mouthful of fur for his pains.

Thumper, on the other hand, after being knocked over more than a few times by Talli (mostly with her klutziness combined with his unsteadiness in the early days when he was learning to walk), has reached an understanding with the dog.  She has figured out that he is smaller, more fragile, and not much of a threat to her.  They coexist quite well when it’s just the two of them under Grandma’s supervision.

Ane would prefer a smaller and trained-already dog.  She likes to play with Talli, but loses patience when Talli acts like a hyperactive toddler.  Still, she’s fond of the dog, even if she complains.

And then there’s Tad.  Tad, who still talks about Rusty, is coming to love Talli as only a boy can love a dog.

Tad loves to get Talli to play tug-of-war with him with chew ropes – he dangles them in front of her, she grabs them, and then Tad starts the narration, scripting directly from his favorite shark documentaries, about a “dog with powerful man-eating jaws,” and keeps tugging while she keeps pulling.

This picture is from last Thursday, when Grandma suggested that Tad read a story to Talli.  Auntie wants Talli to be a reading dog someday, so we may as well get started now.  The only problem is, Talli wants to be in Tad’s face, getting love and attention, not lying down quietly listening to a story.  This dog seems to think that she’s some kind of lap dog instead of the yellow lab/German Shepherd mix that she really is.  Grandma helped coax/hold Talli in place long enough for Tad to finish reading the story.

When we got home that night, big tears started welling up in Tad’s eyes, and then spilled over.  Both the Webmaster and I were confused.  When we asked him what was wrong and why he was crying, he said sadly, “I miss Talli…. and Talli is going to miss ME!”

I hope Auntie can handle sharing “her” dog with Tad – because Tad loves that dog.  And given enough time, Talli will love Tad right back.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 20th, 2014 at 12:17 am and is filed under Children, Family.
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