Know Your Limitations!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My daughter’s car broke down this week and because it could not get into the shop until Friday, she has had to enjoy some special mother/daughter time with me driving (a few days) her to and from work.  She works a long way from home and she would probably tell you it was hell.  Eventually, she found a co-worker a little closer to home and it shortened our drive, but not by much.  I have found when I have a member of my family in an enclosed space, with no way to escape, is when I can give some of my best advice.  Sure, I have had to get used to the shrill cries of, “I swear I am going to jump from this car,” but they never do, so in my mind, they really do want to hear what I have to say.  Like I do many nights, I used a story I heard on DK to make my point, ignored all the “who cares?” and hoped some of what I said got through to my daughter.  I could tell I made a small impact by the way she leaped from the car when we got home and said, “I am taking my dinner down to my room and I won’t be back up.”

 

The point of the story I told to her was to find what you are good at and work to get better at it every way you can.  Everyone has something they excel at and knowing what that is about yourself can help you both professionally and personally.  I told her in great length how I never wanted to be a boss to anyone when I worked, because A) people get on my nerves and B) I was never a good delegator and always thought I could do it better.  She didn’t seem surprised to learn any of this about her mother and in fact said, “in other words, you are impatient and think you are always right.  Tell me something I don’t know.”  I forged ahead without saying what I was thinking, “You are really bugging me and you need to listen to me because I always know best, “ and instead said,  “You are missing the point.  The point is I know what I am good at and my limitations.”  She followed up with, “did my car get fixed today, so I can drive myself next week?” Every parent knows you try and plant the seed and hope it grows, so hopefully, I can fertilize it a little next time we are alone and continue helping the little seed’s growth.

 

By now, you might be wondering where is this story going and in a roundabout way I am getting to my point.  Every day I take my dogs for a walk at a beautiful park near our home.  The campground is closed for the winter so we have the place mostly to ourselves, although we do see other people out walking their dogs.  I really do think every time I am at that park how lucky I am to have such a great place to take my dogs.  Beauty is everywhere and from time to time, we see a deer, an owl, a woodpecker, and too many of those darn squirrels.  This week, however, I noticed something not so pretty, dog poop that lazy owners did not pick up.  I noticed it everywhere once I started looking.  There can really be no other excuse except lazy dog owners for this because our park has poop stations all along the paths complete with bags and trashcans. 

For some reason, I am sure it is the same dog owners that allow their dogs off leash despite signs everywhere that say all dogs must be leashed.  We encounter these idiots all the time who always like to yell out, “Don’t worry.  My dog is friendly.”  One day I was walking Fudge and Vern and out of nowhere appeared a dog walking toward us with no owner in sight.  All coherent thought left me and I weighed several options as the dog approached, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to hoist Vern into the nearest tree.  Luckily, the owner finally appeared apologizing profusely and called the dog to her, but the dog continued to approach us.  He had no intention of listening to his owner and she had no more control over that unleashed dog than I did and finally as she closed in on him, I said, “you had better get him, because my dogs are not friendly.” Whether or not that is true does not matter and all this could have been avoided if she had followed the rules and kept her dog on a leash.  She did get her dog before anything bad happened and Fudge and Vern behaved far better than I anticipated as I stood there shaking in my boots and trying to decide if I had enough momentum in me to make a mad burst to the car or if it would be faster to just drop to the ground and have the dogs pull me.  A lot of “what ifs” crossed through my mind that day.

 

I think knowing your limitations applies to dog ownership, too.  If you have no intention of picking up after your dog, then don’t get one.  If you think all the dog rules posted throughout parks and public places don’t apply to you, then don’t get a dog.  Picking up dog poop is not my favorite thing either and I have one dog who waits to poop until we are way past the poop stations every single day, because I swear she likes to see me carry her poop around and juggle a filled bag and two dog leashes.  Don’t try to tell me that make no sense, because you won’t change my mind. I  know I am right and you will just bug me if you try :)  I never thought in a million years I would be walking behind my dogs with a plastic bag and encouraging them to do the one thing that was going to require me to pick up something gross. 

Ask my family, I don’t even like to know people go to the bathroom.  The next time I see anyone talking or writing about whether or not they should get a dog, my first question is going to be, “how do you feel about sticking your hand in a plastic bag, gathering up the goods, and turning the bag inside out and carrying it around like an unattractive purse until you can locate a trash can?”  Oh, and unlike kids, they don’t ever learn to go on a toilet and eventually cut you out of the equation. 

Oh, how I wish Fudge and Vern did this every day!

Nothing would give me greater pleasure then to walk up to those people who do not pick up their dog’s potty (I am getting grossed out from writing poop so much) and hand them a very expensive ticket and a poop bag.  Unfortunately, Pennsylvania does not have Poop Police, so I am SOL and pardon my French. The rules apply to all of us.  I worry that someday I will drive up to my favorite park and see another sign that reads, “No dogs allowed!”  It could happen, because it seems that the few who don’t follow the rules always ruin it for those of us who do.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Karen, I like your idea because we do walk our dogs in the dark and I just said to John the other night one of us needs to start remembering to bring a flashlight.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Jane, LOL...at our home, you would be John and I would be Dave :) Also, for some reason, I always pick up the poop when John and I walk the dogs. I have to re-think this now...LOL!!

Doris, LOL about Hayley. She would probably love to move in with you and your gang of dogs. Yes, MOVE IN :)

Julie, I have had to go back, too, because I forgot a bag. I do go back, so that counts. LOL

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

F, Just remember, you said it, not me :)

Deanna, Yep...all the time.

Christine, Thank you for the link. I am going to order one. It still surprises me when people watch their dog go to the bathroom and are not embarrassed to not pick it up.

[F, Calla & Luca]

@ Karen, I have a fanny pack I can wear over my shoulder for this purpose but I rarely bother. And I don't walk the dogs in the dark.

[Julie and Charlie]

I admit that, once and only once, did I forget a bag when taking Charlie for a walk.  And wouldn't you know, he picked the furthest place from home to stop. Sigh. We "ran" home, and then came back with a bag to clean up. I just hope no one in the neighborhood only saw the first part of us dropping and ditching!

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

It took me awhile to get to the end of this blog because I spent a lot of time feeling terribly sorry for Hayley! I really need to get that sweet girl to move to Texas as I would never dream of holding her captive in a vehicle!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I have poop bags in every coat pocket and purse I own...I'm never without one, and I also find it really annoying when other people don't pick up after your dogs.  Actually in our little village there are serious fines for not picking up after your dog and people DO report offenders.  But we often walk our dogs on a path through the forest....there are no containers or poop stations.  If we're not near the end of our walk I pick up the poop and throw it into the forest....well away from the hiking paths.  I figure I'm feeding the wildlife.  DH thinks this is awful and if he's there he picks it up and carries it the rest of the way.  After reading this, Laurie, I'm wondering if I'm "one of those people". 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's the real version of the doggy diaper bag I use.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

F, I have one. It's a small fake Coach "crossbody" shoulder bag, very light weight, and it has two compartments. I keep poop bags in one and a small flashlight in the other, along with a few wet wipes for certain emergency sitautions, lol, and I slip in my cell phone when we take walks, too.

I found a great deal on the poop bags I use, considering that I was paying $6 for a package of 40 of them in the pet supply store. This site is selling them for $2.59 a pkg: http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/van-ness-dog-waste-pickup-bags/0000...

They're large, very easy to open (unlike those ones that come on the rolls), and you can't see through them, plus they have nice easy tie handles.

[F, Calla & Luca]

@ Christine. I have Amazon Prime so a small order is not the problem. I like the Dk logo marketing idea :-)
@Karen, even with 2 dogs I usually have one hand free and Luca is most likely to poop on a walk. My bags don't have handles but that gives me some new ideas. The trouble is it's already enough that I always have to remember bags. Maybe we need a doggie diaper bag concept :-)