Harley sees Hailey as an endless supply of interesting people food (raisins, fruit snacks and peanut butter). He is a good dog who tolerates her constant climbing and tail pulling like a park statue tolerates pigeon poop. For Hailey's part, I always thought that she looked at the dog as part garbage can, part obstacle course. Since the day she started walking, she has literally spent her childhood with his tail in her face and his mouth on her food.
However, I now understand that their relationship is a little deeper than I realized. I had no idea of the bond between my daughter and my dog until this past Memorial Day weekend.
Harley had been experiencing some...how to put it nicely....intestinal discomfort.... for about a week, so we decided to get him checked out. Now... the vet we go to is quite a long distance from our house, so when the hubby offered to take the dog and the toddler to the vet on Saturday, I saw an opportunity for unrestricted cleaning access *super rare occurrence*! Off the three of them went for Harley's checkup and I started cleaning random stains off the sofa.
A while later, I get a call from an upset husband...we had forgotten to take a sample of Harley's 'morning business' for the vet and therefore, they had to leave the dog at the vet's office until he provided a new one.Hailey was thoroughly upset.
They had to leave Harley behind and I could hear her in the background screaming and crying for her doggie! Harley was upset too, we have never left him in a strange place before and certainly never taken his girl away. It's a darn good thing I wasn't there because Nathan would have had to deal with three crying family members instead of two.
Fortunately, Harley didn't have to stay long and they were able to go back later in the day to pick him up. As they arrived at the vet's office, Hailey heard some random dog barking and she kept saying "We're coming Harley! Don't cry, we're here!" How sweet is that? When they got home, the dog didn't leave her side for the rest of the evening.
So my observations about my dog and my daughter didn't quite go deep enough and the relationship that I see everyday is really just the surface. Underneath the actions are feelings, and they aren't always the feelings you are expecting.
The things that may annoy you on a daily basis....the tail pulling, food stealing...even having to clean the sofa around a toddler and a dog... those things may be irritating, but you would certainly miss them if they were no longer there. Even the worst things about the people that we love are more meaningful and important than some of the best things about other people. I'm going to try to remember that today, maybe we all should.
