So the other day I had two friends come for the day, and they brought their adorable 4 year old son Leon with them. Now I like kids in short doses, and it does me good to have one over every now and again if only to remind me why I don't have any of my own.
But Lagniappe seemed to enjoy the visit even more than I did, as he had a playmate for the day that was right around his size. Of course the big problem here is that while both 4 year old boys and German Shepherd dogs like to play with toys, neither likes to share. So much of the day consisted of shouts of "Hey! That's mine! The dog has my car!" from one side, and much whiny barking from the other as Lagniappe fought to get his toys back. It seemed as if neither Lagniappe or Leon wanted to play with their own toys as much as they wanted each others--a recipe for trouble right there since both objected to giving up control of their own playthings.
It began with Leon bringing two toy cars onto the house. The cars were plastic and about a foot long, and Leon liked to zoom them around on the floor, as boys do. However Lagniappe decided that he wanted to zoom the cars too, and he jumped in and began swatting them around with his paws and pushing them with his nose, just really having fun with them. Of course Leon objected and fought to get his cars back, but Lagniappe has about sixty pounds on Leon so Leon defaulted to crying as Lagniappe picked the car up in his mouth and took it into the other room to play with it. Of course then I had to intervene and take it from him, because once he gets something like that between his jaws, it's usually toast in a matter of seconds and I didn't want that level of drama in the Lair. So the cars got put up beyond the reach of dog, but this was apparently just a cue for Leon to grab Lagniappe's prized squeeky hedgehog. Oh man...as soon as Lagniappe heard the first squeek, it was on. The shepherd tore into the room and leapt for his toy, snatching it firmly but carefully from his diminutive houseguest. The two fought over this toy for a bit, with cries of "I want it!" interspersed with yelps of outrage. Fortunately no hitting or biting took place, although the inevitable finally occurred when Lagniappe accidentally scratched Leon with one of his claws. That sparked another round of crying, at which point I had to intercede.
"That's IT!" I said loudly, putting a stop to the antics of dog and boy. "You get outside in the yard until you can learn to play nice. And you... You go back and lie on your rug until you can play gently with your guests." Dog and boy went to their respective places for a bit, but it wasn't long before they were happily wrestling and chasing each other around on the deck.
I still don't want a kid, but I'm going to have to get Lagniappe a pet of his own.
Yeah....I am with ya on the whole kid thing, too. Dogs are so much better. At least, I think so.
ReplyDeleteHad to chuckle at the post and the interaction between dog and boy. lol. At least Lagniappe did not bite the boy.
My Kira sort of does - she does not like children who are rough on her. She tends to put an arm between her jaws, never biting down but just enough pressure to let them know she is not pleased with their behavior toward her. She ain't much of a kid dog. She likes to play with them if they chase her but otherwise she just barrels them over. Much better at playing with other dogs who won't cry when they get bumped.
Hey that was good stuff. I like the whole you can come visit but you can't stay here attitude.
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