I Don't Pee In Your Pool

My Jesse, as you know, is wonderful and sweet and will be my very best friend until the end of her days, which will be never because we have convinced her she is eternal and you are not to tell her any different. 

She is a gentle darling who wants only pats and to be loved and told she is beautiful and good on an hourly basis and in return she is all of those things and a foot warmer besides. She is the gracious matriarch of every dog pack we have associated with, unless it contains Whiskey, and then there is a cautiously recognized impasse that everyone understands but no one openly acknowledges because therein lay madness and oblivion. 

Just... just don't hug her, okay? 

Or, for that matter, pound on her aging hips with your broad hands, or dig into her tender, old neck with your strong fingers. We are gentle people and we treat our animals with respect. What you are doing, to them, may feel like abuse. 

This has come up a few times over the years and I feel I should say that I hold nothing personal against the people who do this, they may have a different way of treating their pets and it's not my business to correct their behaviour around their own animals. 

But...

This is a time when lots of folks are getting together with family and friends, and their dogs, big or small, so I am sending this out as a tender reminder to all dog owners and friends of dog owners. If a dog's human asks you to stop, then tells you to stop, then yells at you to stop, you have gone too far. Jesse is my dog and I will protect her, but she will also protect herself, even at the terminal risk of being a Bad Dog. 

Take it from me, and the terrible reason I hate Tuesdays, respect the dog and respect the owner.

I don't grab children and shake them until they scream for their mothers.

Don't put my Rottweiler in a headlock, and we'll all get long nicely. 

Caution: If you aren't in this photo then you shouldn't try this with Jesse. 
Or Husband, for that matter.