People say that dogs take after their owners. I dispute this claim wholeheartedly. I consider myself accepting of many cultures, religions, practices, and rituals. I don't generalize people based on any stereotype if I can avoid it.....not seriously anyway. My dog, on the other hand, is a different story.
Let me preface this by mentioning that our lovable Molly was rescued from the pound when she was two. And I'm certain she acquired these traits before we brought her into our home.
Last weekend the weather was beautiful in Houston. Sunny, breezy, totally atypical for September. We decided to find a dog park to let her romp and play without the confines of a leash, our the limited square footage of our downtown apartment. We found a beautiful park, with a large pool where all sorts of people and dogs had congregated to enjoy the day. You think she would be thrilled right? Wrong.
Molly spent the first hour glued to us. She wouldnt so much as sniff the other dogs. She was dying of thirst, but refused to share a water bowl with any other dog. Finally, we started looking around, and realized that we couldn't find her. This was a slightly alarming feeling, because she hadn't left our side the entire time. We finally found her, and were a bit puzzled........
She was playing, running around with, and sniffing the butts of three other dogs. The funny thing is, they looked exactly like her. Medium sized, reddish brown dogs. They ran together like a litter pack. They ignored the beautiful husky, the playful golden lab, the black bulldog who refused to share his bone, the pair of Afghans chasing their tennis ball into the pool. She turned her nose up at the beagle puppy who kept trying to nip at her tail, and walked away from the old, greying golden retriever who gently laid down next to her in the shade.
She was acting like a spoiled, racist snob. We left the park that day wondering where we had gone wrong as parents.
