Mirror, Mirror.. Show Me What You Got!

Hi furriends, the other day, a stranger walking by asked my mom if he could pet me. Since we were busy running errands, mom responded politely “Thanks for asking but not at this time”. At that moment this person replied “Oh, I get it, your dog is not friendly”. In the past, this response used to really trigger and upset my mom, but she’d typically remain quiet and keep walking with her head down. However, this time she looked back at this person and calmly responded: “She is friendly, but we need our own time to socialize and this is not the right place nor the right time”.

We continued our walk and she felt really good for standing up for me but most importantly for herself. It has taken some time for Mom to realize that I might not be the most social pup in the pack. In fact, I need some extra time and space in order to feel comfortable around others. Just like hoomans, dogs have their own personalities. And believe it or not, the more time we spend with our pawrents, the more we adapt to them, aligning with their energy quality as well as their individual personalities and manners.

In my Mom’s case, she had to realize that if she wanted me to be more social and calm around others, she had to behave the same way. It was not fair of her to ask me to be someone she wasn’t willing to be herself.