When is it too cold for one dog to be walked but not the other?
Copycat dogs: Is it playing favorites or setting ground rules?
“It’s my room too,” I said in a high-pitched whiny voice to my mother, then rolled my eyes and took off Jackie’s harness.
My mother laughed aloud and said, “Yep! Exactly!”
We know exactly what that means. Up until I was 6 years old, me and my brother shared a bedroom. I couldn’t have cared less about what was going on in that bedroom half the time. I was strolling around the house, seeing what was more interesting than where I slept. But if one of his friends came to visit, I would beeline to that bedroom to “play with my Barbies.”
Whenever my brother objected to me being in our shared bedroom with his friends, I would loudly proclaim, “It’s my room too!”
Anyone within listening and viewing distance knew I was in that room to spy on them and eavesdrop on their conversations. Granted, I usually loved hanging out with a much older crowd than my brother, who was seven years older than me. But he and his friends were old enough to be doing something interesting, and I wanted to be in the mix.
Recommended Read: “Five go-to tips for checking your dog's paw pads ~ Avoid painful cuts, dried pads or blistered pads on your puppy”
This spying antic reminds me so much of Jackie, my mother’s dog, who is about 14 months younger than my dog, Junee. Where Junee goes, Jackie wants to go. If Junee is sitting on the couch, here comes Jackie. If Junee is in her crate, here comes Jackie. And if Junee wants to go for a walk, Jackie wants to tag along too.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn a percentage for each purchase with my referral links.
I find this mirror of myself highly entertaining, even though Junee doesn’t. But I had to make a tough call when Jackie was desperately trying to take a walk with me and Junee, and I knew she was going to be too cold to walk in that weather.
Additionally, Jackie is paper-trained; Junee is not. And Junee has never missed a thrice-per-day walk, plus a nightly yard break. I don’t have a backyard. So releasing Junee into the backyard to do her business never works. To Junee, the business must be done during a walk. So how was I going to take my Hound mix outside when the Shih Tzu mix wouldn’t be able to handle the cold weather?