Thursday, February 24, 2011

us humans have it all wrong

In September, we got a new dog. We already had a fine canine at home, but as usual, I tend to seek out ways to complicate my own life and bringing home another bouncy, happy lab puppy was just what I sought out to do. For the record, I'm a big fan of the two-dog family; anyone who remembers Harley and Maggie knows why. So now we have Jesse and Dempsey.

Dempsey moved in and took over. All 7 pounds of her asserted herself into Jesse's space, and ours for that matter. She is an alpha dog to the core and has let us all know. A recent visit from a friend and her dog sealed the deal for me - Dempsey nearly tore my arm off in her fury to have this female out of her yard. That wasn't embarrasing at all.

Now she's 40-some pounds and I still find it unsettling how she can ellicit a tiny whimper and have Jesse scurrying out of her own bed or dropping her favorite toy. It literally pisses me off that she waltzed in and took charge and that all the books say that we have to accept it. As much as I love her, it's just not right.

See, I'm not that kind of gal. If there is something less than mainstream about my personality, I tend to opt to correct instead of just accepting myself. If I need something, I have a hard time asking for it. If someone doesn't seem to like me, I'll probably worry about it. Holy *&*^%, I'm the beta!

While thinking this over earlier today, I firmly (thought I) believed that we humans didn't subscribe to the same pecking order rules of the animal kingdom, but following some introspection, I know that we do. We all have someone in our life that exibits despicable behavior and we just accept it. Some of us would rather do without than just go get what we want. However, there's one small difference between our furry friends and ourselves: we can choose to change.

Reality check for me.

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