Saturday, August 17, 2013
Confession of a Dog Walker....
My little Sheltie has really helped me get out of the house and be somewhat more athletic. Extra TLC, long walks around the community, and treats (of course!) helped her adjust to our family. However, it was also making me recognize how stupid people really are/can be. I have adults (not children but like middle age, mind you) that act as if it's the first time ever seeing a dog. They will shriek, wave their hands, and literally run up to her and stick their hands in her face. Then get all defensive when she backs away or has me shield her and I tell them not to do that with my dog. I get the whole, "Well, you need to socialize her, blah, blah, blah" and of course I have to say something nasty like, "What would you do if you had some strange ass woman stick their hand in your face? You're lucky she does have human socialization cause she would have bit your hand. If that happened, I wouldn't have my dog anymore since the authorities would euthanize her because you're a dumb ass." Plus, it's the breed's nature to be socially aloof when it comes to strangers. It took her awhile to be good with me and she's finally warming up to the hubby. So get over yourself, assholes!
It dawned on me the last time someone did this to put it out on a blog. So what are my biggest pet peeves (ranked from 1 being the worst and going down the list):
- Run up to her and start putting your hands in her face! Ask if you would like to pet my dog. Common sense, right? But people don't have this and just come up to her. I've tried the ribbons, yell at them and they still do it! If you ask me, 99.99% I will say yes, stop and ask to just be a little bit careful since she's shy to new people. There has been occasions where I have ask kids to not pet her when they asked (please see below too). One was her getting stung by a bee and I had to get home ASAP since she was limping. The other time was when she wasn't feeling well at all and starting vomiting on our walk (she had a hernia in her stomach but since removed). She's very friendly towards fellow dogs and people, and they can tell she's always happy but what if she wasn't? This is one of my biggest pet peeves and I've been known to yell at people (mostly punk teenagers that try to instigate her) for not having any etiquette to ask.
- Demanding what they want to do with my dog! I had this one lady's little toddler (about 2 or 3) yelling that she loved my dog and that she wanted to pet it. Because in this day and age, grandparents/parents have their kids be the decision maker in all situations, they first asked me if I could come over and let her pet my dog. This is another case where I will say no when asked. I really don't mind kids petting her, I really don't want to say no because she is awesome with kids. However, there's an ongoing case near my hometown that hit close to my heart. Grandparents had a 7 year old Sheltie named Jack. Because no one was monitoring the toddler with the dog, there was an instance where he nipped her in the cheek. No one knows what exactly happened if the kid grabbed Jack too harshly or what. He drew blood and she had to have a couple of stitches. Since that occurred, the hospital has to get the law into it since it will now be a CPS investigation. (You can read more here: Save Jack on Facebook!) So, because I'm the dog's owner, I politely said no. They didn't like my answer and said, "Why not? Come over here and let her pet your dog?! Don't you hear her crying?" Of course being the bitch that I am, stated, "Yes, I do hear your brat whining and demanding that she wants to pet my dog. Just because she's wanting to, doesn't mean she gets what she wants. I won't and shouldn't be expected to cater to you nor your child's demands." Because if I said I didn't feel comfortable for her to be around the toddler, my dog would be accused of being aggressive and a danger in the community (which is obviously a lie).
- Don't put an aggressive dog on a leash when it's outside. Where I live, there's a leash law that people are supposed to abide by. I follow it, bring a bag to scoop her poop (another law) but most people won't clean up after their dog. I had this one husky come up to us (who is petite to compared to this breed) and I was on the other side of the street, sniffed and started almost attacking her. But I was the one that was in the wrong because I was walking my dog around those parts. Last time I checked, it's America and I can walk where I damned well please. However, it's the law to put your dog on a leash no matter if you're present in the yard. 'Cause obviously it took your tubby ass a long time to control your dog. Recently, I called the dog catcher to apprehend a pit bull mix that was harassing my dog when she was defecating. There was no owner in sight so it was in doggy jail for a couple of days. There is a reason why there's a leash law in place!
- "Don't worry he/she is very friendly (as the dog is growling and spitting uncontrollably)! There were a few exceptions to this rule but sadly, most people don't really know their dog. Sometimes I don't and there were times that she almost snapped at a Chihuahua for getting too close. However, I dragged her away when I saw the tail signs saying to back away. If she has an off day, I'll say it to people who ask me if she's friendly. Again, I want to socialize her with other dogs but I don't want her to get a complex where she'll be afraid of a certain sized dog because she got attacked. With the husky, she did have that and it was only corrected when I took her to a pet-sitting service. Ironically, she fell in love with a husky pup there!
- Don't just start giving her treats. Like the asking to be pet, ask me if it's okay to give her a treat. In Wales, there was a report of someone giving dogs sausages that were laced with nails. (Dog Walkers Beware in Wales!) I know that you may sound sincere and just give them to her but also she's fed natural products and those treats may upset her tummy.
- Being a know-it-all and creepy. Someone came up to me and stated that she loved my Border Collie. I politely told her that she's a Blue Merle Sheltie even though she gets called that or a Rough Collie all the time. I even joke that they are relatively in the same collie category but different types of breeds. She goes off saying I'm wrong and that I should know the difference because they are so different. Again, I politely explain that's what my AKC papers state she's a pure-bred with a gorgeous lineage and there are also different sizes for Shelties (some are small like the Sables but she's a little bit bigger). You would think that would make them shut up? Nope, I was then told (as I walked away) that my papers are wrong and she's a Border Collie and continues to say that to her when I'm walking around the town. I had a guy say to me that I'm cruel to my dog because I get her groomed per breed guidelines instead of getting her completely buzz cut when it's hot. No, it's cruel to not bring some water with you on walks or not paying attention to your Sheltie who barks at everything that moves. I also had a woman when talking almost pulling my dog into her house because she thought my dog was hot when she sat down in the shade when I was quickly talking to someone (not even five minutes). I have contemplated bringing mace with me so I can defend myself in these situations.
Again, I don't mind having people pet her or have her interact with their dogs. She has a few friends around the block and she's a very happy doggie. I'm just frustrated at clueless people who think it's okay to do the above and that I have to just suck it up rather than tell them to stop. I really don't, like I don't expect you to go over to the other side of the street because I'm walking my dog. If my dog is going to flake out, I'll cross over and go back once you're out of our way. I don't demand my dog to be treated with preferential treatment (unlike some people with kids). Who expect other people who don't care for them to kiss their ass. You're not special because you can push something out of your vagina.
I really hate...
...judgmental people, especially to those that have illnesses. Friend from my last post decided to call me again the other night and it got to that place. The person that they knew has Aspergers Syndrome (Where the person has social problems and repetitive behavior. Some say it's a "high functioning Autism") and because he would say that to her all the time when they were in fights she said, "He probably didn't have it and was faking it. Good thing that I broke up with him." This relationship was so many years ago and I don't know how the hell we got into that conversation but I said that you wouldn't know that. She then stated that since he wasn't acting like others she knew who were also diagnosed with this, it was all assumed that he was only wanting attention. I put my example of how I'm Narcoleptic and that people assume that if I don't drop all of a sudden into a sleep, I'm faking it (This is actually the condition Cataplaxy, which some Narcoleptics do get or will get in their lifetime). I was playing devil's advocate with her and I wasn't trying to start an argument, just trying to make her look at both sides and point out so many factors. Sometimes people have different symptoms than others, he doesn't want her to think that he's just an asshole, or that he's venting to her about it? Or maybe he was faking it for his own agenda, we don't know. I wasn't there and I'm not going to agree with her just because of her side of the story. I told her how much it hurts to have someone say to me that I'm faking the diagnosis given to me and I have to work ten times harder at work to prove myself. It was increasingly frustrating at work when this would happen, since I would get headaches and my eyes would feel so heavy that it would ache just to keep them open.
Well instead of being mature about it and stating, "Maybe you're right about those points, jerrysliljess. Even though I still think he may have done this to get attention, I never thought about it that way." instead it went, "I'm not saying you're faking your diagnosis, jerrysliljess, don't get defensive." I calmly then stated that I wasn't getting defensive, I was just stating that you don't know if he was faking or not, regardless of who else that you know legitimately has it. I knew this person when he was in college and even though I had no problems with him, I could tell that he was socially awkward like myself.
So you thought the arguments who be done? It just warmed up! For whatever reasons, it came up with the whole controversial debate about spanking kids and how it makes the "aggressive" or "depressed". Of course I put in my opinion where it should be the last resort when nothing works. Children like to test their parent's patience (I was a perfect example and I deserved the spankings that I got because I was a real hellion when I was younger) and if you don't show them some sort of discipline they are going to walk all over you. My sister-in-law is a terrible parent (yep, I said it) not because she doesn't clean her kid but she does a horrid job of disciplining her when she acts up. She does the whole count to three thing and the kid knows that her mother isn't going to spank her. The SIL will count and then forever say 2.(insert number) then when she counts to three, forgets about it and doesn't follow up with her. So my niece is a disrespectful, little imp and it's sad because her mother thinks it's "traumatic" to discipline her. This child almost blew up her grandparents' apartment because she was playing with the stove. What was my SIL's response when my husband told what she was doing? "Well, you should be watching her because I'm trying to talk to your mother and father!" My response? "No, because we're not babysitting your child just because you're too fat and lazy to look after her. You know, be her mother and a parent?" Yep, I'm a real bitch when I need to be when people like her think once she drops her turd to grandma's or if there's another adult in the room, it's assumed that person is going to watch her. Absolutely not! It's sad when my niece calls her grandma her mother because she is dropped off every single day.
So I said my two cents and the friend was saying that I was going to be a bad parents like hers. She stated that she was beaten because she stole money from her father. Because of that, she was so traumatized and blah, blah, blah. Bitch, I'm sorry but you deserved it because you don't do that and if my parents heard you bragging that you did that, I would have gotten backhanded. No matter if I was 16 or 30! This is the reason why so many kids and teenagers have such behavioral problems, because parents want to be their friends and don't want them to hate them like they did when they were growing up. Yeah, there are some areas where my parents really sucked (we never had family nights together. It wasn't because we couldn't afford it but because they didn't see a need for it and that my dad was always working for his company) but I wouldn't want to regret when I was older when Johnny, at age 28, is asking mommy to call his boss because they yelled at him. (Oh wait, that happened to me when I was at Job Corps!)
I mean, She continues to get annoyed with me because I said that I would probably done the same thing. I also stated that spanking is not a form of abuse but if you hit your kid with a bat, now that's a different story. Friend get pissed and states the same thing. I really just wanted to do this:
 |
| "Don't judge me because I won't date someone with mental illnesses nor like parents who actually discipline their kid!" |
Thank goodness she got off the phone with me because I was ready to hang up on her because of her stupidity.
Labels: abuse, annoyed, brats, bullshit, Cruise, Disney, Disney Dream, husband, Job Corps, Universal, vacation