August 23rd is a memorable day — 28 years ago my daughter was born! I love her to pieces!
Last week a number of Facebook friends' postings read something like this: "FREE TO A GOOD HOME: 3 year old child. I've just got a new puppy so no longer have the time for the child. Also worried that the child may bite the puppy. Child is currently crate-trained and has his first shots. Not completely housetrained, but is working on it. Will get along with other children or pets. YOU WOULDN'T DO THIS TO A CHILD SO WHY WOULD IT BE ACCEPTABLE TO DO IT TO AN ANIMAL? If you can't dedicate at least 10 yrs. to YOUR PET, don't get one!! Copy and paste if you agree."
In some postings the child's age changed but the gist of the posting was the same—a well-deserved jab at those pet owners who give up their pets for often frivolous reasons. For example, one of my Lhasa friends who lived in New York once told me a story about a call she received from a Lhasa owner who wanted to "get rid" of her 2-year old light gold Lhasa because (and I am not joking) she was redecorating and the dog no longer matched her furniture. Can you believe that! I'm sure that people involved in rescue have additional ridiculous and horrible stories to tell.
Anyway, reading the sentence, "Child is currently crate-trained…" gave me a mental image of a child in a crate, which in turn led me down memory lane to a dog show in Omaha in November 1982. My son Aaron was 4 years old and, for some insane reason now forgotten, he came to the dog show. I remember Lynn being there also, so we must have been trying to make it a family affair! I was showing two dogs: Elf (Joyslyn's Elfin Magic of Jokang) and Toby (Joyslyn's To Be or Not To Be). Like most children at dog shows whose parents are busy grooming and fussing with the dogs, Aaron became bored, then restless, then whiny. So, while I was grooming Toby, Aaron crawled into Toby's crate and pulled the door shut. I recall saying, "Good place for you!" Along came a photographer and snapped a picture that appeared the following day in the Omaha World Herald.
Oh my goodness, did I hear it from my non-dog show friends in David City all the next week! They were teasing of course about child abuse, mostly because just a week or so prior to Aaron's picture appearing in the paper there had been a huge scandal about a day care provider in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area who did indeed keep children in dog crates. What an awful time for a child attending a dog show to appear in the newspaper in a crate! I guess I'm lucky no investigators came to my door! In this day and age, they probably would!
I found the newspaper clipping last night in one of Aaron's photo albums. It's faded and yellowed but clear enough to bring back some vivid memories!
The Twin Cities Lhasa Apso Club has two specialties this weekend in Lake Elmo, MN. Raven, Maggie, Breaker, and I are headed there early Thursday morning. My biggest worry involves preparing for the show. The heating element in my stand dryer is acting up. I ordered a new one on the 15th that has not yet arrived, and even if it comes today, I'll never get a repairman to fix the dryer so I can use it tomorrow night. Drying dogs (or maybe that should be "trying to dry dogs") tomorrow night might not be one of the best experiences I've had! I'm attempting to mentally prepare myself.
Oh did I also mention that this morning I found water all over the utility room floor from the hot water heater? What a mess! A wonderful customer service woman (Laura) in the Warranty Department at Sears has been very helpful and perhaps we'll have a new water heater by the end of today.
Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you!
Joyce
That's a very cute story! I'm guessing the Lhasa was quieter than your son... :D Funny :)
ReplyDelete