A Boy and His Dog

This evening as I prepared dinner, my oldest son took the dog outside to throw the ball for her. I watched them from the kitchen window as I washed a few dishes. He would throw the ball, she would chase after it and Mason would chase after her. He'd throw it again and she'd chase it and he would run and skip after her. They repeated this for quite awhile. I love seeing them play together.

When I was pregnant with my oldest child, my husband and I talked about how we hoped our dog, Lola, and our child would grow to be good buddies. We imagined she would be protective and loving towards her little human. We thought maybe she would sleep in the baby's room. What a lovely picture we painted!

When we brought Mason home from the hospital, Lola was pretty indifferent. As he grew, she continued to be indifferent. When we brought our second son, Jack, home from the possible, she gave me this look that I took to mean that if she could talk, she would have said, "Seriously? Another baby???? Seriously???" She was not amused. And while you could tell the kids made her a little nervous, she tolerated them just fine; she has NEVER been the slightest bit aggressive. She has never been the kind of dog that is comfortable with them crawling and laying on her, though. She doesn't LOVE them. She looks at us like, "Please help." But she takes it. When we are outside, and she brings me a ball, the boys want to throw it and she brings it back to me every time. I wanted her to love them! I wanted her to play with them! Go! Let them play with you! It made me so sad that Lola didn't love the kids.

To see Mason and Lola playing together tonight warmed my heart. I am hopeful that relationship I hoped for many years ago is blooming now between Lola and our children.