Sunday, November 13, 2005

When fun turns to tragedy

You know, I have never given my sister crap for how she raises her kids. If she doesn't care if they don't bathe for 5 days in a row, what do I care? If they want to discuss politics at age 2, so be it. But I have noticed that my sister is not very respectful of my parenting. Of the dog, that is.

Zinni went to my sister's house while we went up north this week. This morning my phone rings and it is my sister.

J: (kind of hesitant) Hey.
K: (thinking they have managed to kill the dog) Is everything OK?
J: Yeah, we love Zinni. It's like he is our dog. But....
K: But what?
J: I think we may have managed to erase all of his dog manners while you were gone. This morning I came downstairs and he was snoring as he slept on my beige couch. He didn't even bother to get up.
K: WHAT???? DID YOU PUNISH HIM???
J: Well.....I told him that he was a bad dog. We are kind of taking the 'attachment parenting' method with the dog.
K: You didn't punish him?
J: Sort of. And yesterday Carter didn't finish his peaches and Zinni kind of got up on the chair and ate the peaches out of Carter's bowl on the table.
K: (beginning to hyperventilate as I envisioned the 90-pound dog on a dining room chair) Did you punish him?
J: We put him in the cellar after he got crazy upstairs with the kids and scratched Carter. Mada took him right downstairs and put him in the cellar.
K: You said, "Hey, you wearing the fur coat in the hot house, we are going to punish you by taking you AWAY from the 5 kids driving you crazy and put you in the cold, quiet cellar." Yeah, that was good.
J: Well, (sounding affronted) should I have hit him?
K: Ah, no, he has a choke chain for a reason. If he is bad, you pull on the chain and tell him no.
J: That's cruel.
K: How's it going getting all that black hair off the beige couch?

Detox is going to be long and complicated, I'm sure. Wait until the dog has to sleep on the floor again. Poor Zinni.

8 comments:

momma of 2 said...

LOL...I am sending NoSammyNO to live with you - will you send her back trained? She's only 6 and is in total control of our house. Your poor puppy!

Anonymous said...

i just want to go on record that as an attachment parent (who by sheer force of habit inadvertently applied my parenting philosophy to your dog) i would NEVER call zinni a bad dog! instead, i assured him he was a dog who sometimes makes unwise choices. the time out in the cellar did feel rather harsh, but i thought some restful time in the cool quiet basement would help him get reconnected to his true identity as a loving and agreeable house guest who is welcome here anytime.

your nutcase sister,

Unknown said...

Glad I don't have any pets. Controling the kid without a choke chain is hard enough.

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

Pet parenting styles do differ, don't they? The PK and I are CONSTANTLY arguing over this issue.

Makes me kinda glad we never had any kids together...sheesh! Now THAT would be an arguement! :)

Anonymous said...

Zinni must have felt very comfortable to help himself the way he did. He'll be very excited over the next visit! heehee :)

Leesa said...

Sounds exactly like what my dog would do..little stinkers:)

PBS said...

So hard to train and so easy to break that training!

Jaime said...

How ironic that I also have a sister/ dog story today. Except mine will make your dog-spoiling sister seem like a SAINT.
MY sister called this morning to make sure that I wasn't bringing my gross, smelly dog to her mansion on Sunday for Thanksgiving. (She won't allow him in her house, regardless of the fact that he's just a cat that barks). When I basically said that we can't and don't leave him home all day alone she told me that if i HAD to bring him then he could stay in the garage. Yeah, 30 degrees for 4 straight hours outta be GREAT for a 9 pound dog who has never spent more than 7 minutes outside in the cold. My sister is the bitch of all bitches. Thank god I have a good one to counter the satan one.