But… What If…?

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about Rookie. We had a bit of an argument last night and she may have uttered the words “worst mother in the history of all mothers.” She visited this little blog of mine and saw that the last time her name was mentioned was 9 days ago and it was one quick mention about how much I hate it when she licks her paws in the middle of the night. Apparently that’s not very loving of me. Apparently that’s not being a good mom… or something. So anyways she’s pissed and she spent the evening telling me all about it.

So now I’m going to try to make it up by telling you all about her. Although I’m a little bitter myself so it may not be the most flattering story. That’ll teach her to tell a pregnant woman that she’s a bad mom.

I don’t know how the weather is in your part of the country, but here in Houston, it’s Heavenly. The mornings and evenings are a tad chilly for my liking but the rest of the day is awesome. Sunny, cool, breezy. We’ve been trying to think of different outdoor activities that we can do so we can enjoy this. Last week Stephen had the brilliant idea of taking Rookie to this new dog park about 10 minutes away. Since he chose to go on a Tuesday I decided to stay home and watch Biggest Loser while he and Rookie bonded.

Stephen started texting me pictures of this dog park. It was beautiful. Then he sent me a few pictures of Rookie standing, Rookie running, Rookie in the distance. And it dawned on me… was Rookie the only dog there? I asked. Nope. There are more, she’s just not playing with them.

WHAT? 

They got home and Rookie was warn out. After Loser was over I asked for the details. Stephen told me all about how pretty the park was. There were trees and a track and strategically placed poopie bags that turned out to be poopie pieces of plastic that in a strange twist of events, turned out to be bags afterall.

And then he broke the news. Rookie isn’t good at making friends. She’s kind of a nerd dog. I couldn’t believe my ears. I was certain that this wasn’t true… that maybe all the other dogs were losers and she had no interest in playing their stupid games. I mean, she’s so cute! There’s no way that she’s not popular.

So I went. Sunday afternoon we loaded up the Murano and drove to the park. It was packed. Millions, maybe even trillions of dogs. We went in the gate and Rookie immediately started smelling butts. Atta girl. Stephen and I started walking and Rookie followed. We kept walking, she kept following. It was almost like she wasn’t aware that there were dogs around. It was sad. I was seeing it with my own eyes. My dog, the very dog I had raised since she was a wee little pup, was the nerdy kid that sits at the end of the lunch table alone. It was hard to see.

I ached for her. I ached for myself and my husband. What did we do wrong? Why was she such a social spazz? Maybe she just needed more practice. She really only has experience with my mom’s dog or the occasional visiting dog. Maybe she just needs to be around more dogs.

So we took her again on Tuesday. She was so excited. She ran to the car and fussed the whole way there. We got there and she ran into the park. I said a little prayer that maybe she could make a friend. Every now and then a group of dogs would come close and Rookie would get really excited. We’d encourage her, “Go Rookie! Go play!” And she’d run towards the dogs. As she’d start getting close she’d slow down and turn around and then sprint back to us. It was awful. I was embarrassed. I felt like all the other doggie parents were judging me. Like I’m some sort of over-protective mom that won’t let her dog play without permission. Or like I’m the type of mom to say, “Go have fun, but don’t get more than 20 feet away! It’s not safe out there.”

I’m so not that mom.

Stephen and I are unsure what to do at this point. We’ll continue to take her to the park and hope she’ll learn to make friends. We’ll encourage her to participate in all dog activities as long as they don’t involve the pit of watery mud.

This whole thing has gotten us thinking though. How is it that two incredibly awesome, super fun, socially fabulous people could raise such a dweeb? I mean, I guess it’s not that big of a deal. She’s just a dog.

But wait. I think there is something… someone… more important than Rookie coming. Something that could benefit from having a true social life. If we can’t socialize a dog, how the heck are we going to socialize a human? Let’s just pray that God has mercy on this child and He can somehow teach it to be normal despite our awful parenting.

Let’s all bow our heads and pray on that for a while.