What the heck, Dog?!

I doubt I have mentioned our dog Kami here before because I am probably the worst pet owner ever. It wasn't always this way though.

Now before you (mom) can chime in and mention how I abandoned a dog at your house 7 years ago, let me just say we'll save that little story for another day! Right now I am going to complain about my current dog, Kami. AKA Kammers. AKA "DOG!!"

So we got Kami a little over two years ago. We were living in a farmhouse in Podunk, Oregon and about 2 months after moving in  our yellow lab, Dixie, was hit by a car and killed. I won't get into it because it still makes me sad but suffice it to say I was devastated. What made the situation harder was that she was killed on a Wednesday and we had told our friends we would petsit their dog Jet for a couple of weeks, starting Thursday.  Initially I think having their dog around helped ease the pain since there was still a dog in the house. When Jet left, there was a huge void in our house. It was incredibly sad to see a half-opened bag of dog food and Dixie's toys still laying around.

We talked about getting another dog and D was convinced it was too soon and that we should wait and properly mourn Dixie...I said screw that, give me a puppy. So I began to scour the Internet looking for a dog we could rescue. Dixie had been a purebred lab from a line of champions and we paid about $650 for the pleasure of owning her. We weren't going to do that again.

Eventually I found an ad for an Australian Shepard/Lab mix and convinced D that she was meant for us so we drive up to Hicksville, Oregon (only slightly better than Podunk) and brought Kami home.

I'll admit she was very sweet and fit right into our family and for 8 months is was pure bliss to have such a good, chill puppy around the house. We got Kami in September and until mid-May she was treated like our daughter(with a little more reserve on my part because I wasn't going to and probably won't ever love another dog the way I loved Dixie) but Kammers was a good dog and I liked her. What changed that was the arrival of our actual daughter.

Suddenly Kammers was a little less of a priority and her play time was reduced since I was now focused on being a new mommy. It wasn't TOO horrible on her though, our neighbors had a huge mastiff mix that was putty in Kami's paws so even though I was largely unavailable for play, Gopher was more than happy to keep Kami entertained.

Then we moved to R'burg.... Turns out being cooped in a 15x15 graveled backyard with no one to play with and yet another baby taking up floor space in the house is not good for a dog's psyche. Since we've been here (about 18 months) Kami had kind of turned into a reclusive house cat. She spent most of her days under the couch or dining room table and I'm sorry to say I was pretty okay with that, I mean I don't have time to shower, I can't feel too bad that I don't throw her a stick all day (which, BTW she doesn't get anyway. She looks at me like, 'is that an arm spasm you're having? what do you think you're doing?' then she'll lay down beside me and go back to looking bored). So don't judge me that I play fetch with Big Girl and not the dog.

Sorry, that was a lot of backstory to get to this part:

Anyway, recently she's been acting differently. I don't know who it was but someone has reminded her she is a dog and for the last month or two, that is exactly how she has been behaving. I've stumbled on more half-chewed Nemo figurines than I care to think about and the next time I purchase crayons I'm going for the cheapest non-toxics I can find since Kammers has been supplementing her diet with a serving or two of Crayola a day.

I think she's finally finished being patient and waiting for her share of the attention as she has started to look at me defiantly when I pick up chewed toys (something she never even did as a puppy). She also refuses to go outside unless we're all going or her bladder is bursting. I think shes afraid of being left out there too long so anytime I tell her to go out, she kinda just slinks under the table and all but says, "Screw you, I'm not moving and you can't make me."

This morning was the cherry on top as I walk into the living room to find her curled up on top of the couch. She is not allowed on the furniture. When I yelled at her to get down, she kinda just yawned and I swear she rolled her dog eyes at me and leisurely hopped down.

Oh my gosh....as I'm writing this I am having a huge epiphany. Her "dog" behavior has correlated with Big Girl's Terrible Two phase. I've noticed Ans has been playing with the dog more. Pulling on her tail and chasing her and whatnot...oh, no! I think my dog learning her defiant attitude from my toddler.

Oh. Dear. Lord. There are two of them now. 



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