Never Give Up

Last night my dog kept me up with a bout of diarrhea.  In the end, I slept on the living room sofa so that he would have access to the yard as needed.  In all honesty, sometimes I wonder what I was thinking when I decided to get a puppy.  Dollar was such an easy dog, so well mannered and peaceful.  Francis is the opposite.  Recently, I started taking him to the dog park and was going into the small dog side, but people began having problems with Francis’ energy.  He loves to rough play (which is normal dog behavior) and owners in the small side felt my dog was too rough.  One owner even told me to take my dog to socialization classes before bringing him to the dog park.  In the back of my mind I was thinking- the park is supposed to be a place for dogs to learn how to play with one another.  My little, black mop is adorable – but quite a handful. So, I decided to take my chances and enter the big dog side after reviewing that small and big dogs are not supposed to be predatory towards one-another.  My risk proved to be the best decision because on the far-right corner I met a group of retired folks with dogs who welcomed by ball of energy.  He’s been baptized Fuzzball by the leader of the group, a lady with silver hair and the most wonderful disposition.  

Owning a dog who’s a little different has given me a humility check, because I previously thought I was the dog whisperer because I had Dollar with the winning temperament.  He never gave me any problems nor were we ever asked to leave the dog park- he was a model dog.  Francis on the other hand has required more attention and even with outside training he still requires a lot of patience.  Though dog ownership doesn’t compare to parenting I can see how difficult parents have it with children with special needs.  They can be judged harshly even if they are doing everything in their power to help their kids succeed.  This week I had a mother (who is an elementary school teacher) sit through her daughter’s class to make sure her daughter showed up to school and worked during the period that she was there.  She’s a school teacher (I thought) and has such a challenging teen daughter who is flunking out of high school.  Most of the kids I work with have different stories, but their common ground is that they are not succeeding in school.  Some have parents that are done- they have given up on their children and I seriously get it because sometimes I want to be done with Francis.  I feel like all my attempts to make him a well-behaved dog go down the drain when I find another item he destroyed or when he bites me because he’s too excited or when someone at the dog park tells me to remove Francis from the playground.

Nevertheless, when I find a group of people where my Fuzzball is accepted it gives me hope that we just have to get through his puppy stage.  When I come home after a stressful day and Francis runs to me with caresses galore or when we go on a walk and I see his giddiness for the great, new world- I fall all over in love with him.  In a similar way I see the way my school gives kids who have been a handful in previous setting, bloom so beautifully and I relearn that no one should ever be given up on.  Not even an immature pup that requires a little time to become a great dog.