Dogs vs. baby

The battle has already begun.

Oh, it’s subtle. My dogs are masters at the art of subtle sabotage.

All I wanted was a simple photo. You know those cute pregnancy announcements where you see mom and dad’s feet with the little baby shoes next to it, and there on the edge, the paws of their dog? Those announcements for people who are sane and only have one four-footed child.

Well, folks. I have five dogs. I thought, how cute would it be to have all their little paws lined up with the baby shoes in the middle – adorable, right?

My dogs are used to me taking photos – always too many – so I thought this would be no big deal. I got the treats out, enlisted Andrew’s help and set to work.

And then all hell broke loose.

You would think that I was asking them to do a somersault on roller skates – they absolutely lost their minds. Wally barked his head off and jumped around, banging into the other dogs. Sawyer started whining and bumping into the camera with his nose. Ella ran to the dog bed and laid down, thinking surely that would earn her a treat. Sasha acted like she had not a brain in her head and idly wandered around the living room.

Only Annie seized the opportunity to move into ‘golden dog’ status. She sat, ever so patiently, looking at me as if to say,”You’ll remember this when the baby comes right? And when that baby is a toddler who throws food on the ground and only one dog gets to be in the kitchen …. you’ll remember, right?”

Yes, Annie, I will.

I realized that Wally was the chaos factor so we took him out of the room. At this point, it was a battle of wills. I was determined to at least get A photo with some of my dogs, goshdarnit. They refused to stand up, so laying down it was.

“You know what those little shoes mean? A little human!”

“And since we’re having a kid, time for you all to go back to the shelter!”

Kidding, kidding. Just a little dark humor for my fellows in the trenches of shelter work.

The dogs (minus Wally) caught onto Annie’s scheme and followed suit. Ella makes a compelling case for cutest/saddest beagle face. Before you feel sorry for her, you should know that she already chewed through one of the ‘laces’ on those shoes. Tsk, tsk.

‘So you’re having a human? Are you sure?’

‘It’s another dog isn’t it? These are really dog shoes, right?’

Sawyer tried – he really did. He lasted all of two seconds next to these shoes before he was up, trying to get his nose in the treat jar.

And good old Annie. Ever so wise. She knows exactly what she’s doing.

Mama will remember, Annie. Mama will remember.