Dog Whisperer

Library Story Time is one of our favorite activities of the week!  On this particiular visit, a local author who has just published a children's book came by with the star of the story!  A dog!

Now, if you know C at all, you know she is terrified of dogs, even our sweet, old dogs!  I was prepared to skip this week, but when presented with that option or the option of seeing the dog, both C and FL really, really wanted to go.  So, go we did.

What we didn't realize was that the Montessori school from next door would be bringing over 20 children to a program that usually has only 3 to 8 children per week.  The girls were more overwhelmed by the noise and surprise for that than they were from the dog.  The poor dog, Amos, was pretty overwhelmed, too!

Once the majority of the children left, I peeled C and FL off of me and took them to take a picture with the poor dog.  We talked about how scared the dog was and how he needed some friends to talk to him quietly and show him children were good.  I checked out the dog first, of course, and found him to be friendly, but a little scared.  The three of us sat and quietly talked to Amos and reassured him that we were good, kind friends.

FL actually likes dogs, so she was very willing to pet Amos.  C was much more hesitant, but did pet his ear briefly.   Let me tell you, FL was the only child that I saw Amos respond to!  He just loved her and. Gave he lots of licks and kisses!  FL kissed him right back, repeatedly!

Poor C.  She was so frightened, nervous and overwhelmed.  I was doing my best to reassure her that I would always keep her safe and I would never take her to see a mean dog.  She was repeating this back to me to calm herself down, when a little boy overheard and yelled at C in front of everyone, "Amos is NOT mean!   He's a good dog!  He DOESN'T bite!" I don't think he meant to hurt her feelings.   He was just very "expressive", but C was already in a fragile state emotionally.  Now she was hurt and embarrassed.  She burst into tears, which turned into broken hearted sobs.  I love and understand her tender heart and did my best to hug and kiss the hurt away.  I know the boy didn't want to make her cry, but he wasn't too concerned with the result of getting in her face and talking down to her.  Can I just be honest and say that I wanted to give him a good lecture on kindness and then some?!  She looked at me with her big brown eyes just filled with alligator tears, as if to say, "why are you letting him hurt me?!"  Ok, I really and truly thought about sticking out my leg and tripping him...  Please forgive my mama bear thoughts!  I think if FL had been a little bit bigger she would have done it for me!

So, all that being said, it was amazing that C even pet the dog.   And FL?  She enjoyed the dog, kisses and all so much that I am seriously considering moving our own dogs inside to give her that "pet therapy" that has done so much for me in the past.  And C?  Well, I'm hoping she'll come around and be an animal lover eventually!

This was post kiss - she just laughed and squealed over and over!

And C ended things on a good note.  Our librarian (who really likes C and FL) even came over to check on her.  Other library officials took pictures of the girls with the dog and I think FL need up on his face book page!

I was proud of the girls and the kindness they showed to the dog, putting aside their own worries and being brave enough to do something they weren't so sure about.

And my little dog whisperer?  Because of her I think we'll always have a dog in the family!