Differing Parenting Styles

Who knew there were so many differences in parenting (dogs)? First there is the co-sleeping (with your dogs) issue. T and I fall firmly in different camps there. I think that as long as they aren't hogging the bed, what's the harm? T says, "No way!"* Then there is the issue of discipline (for your dogs). T is a yell-er, but I am more of a you-get-more-flies-with-honey-type of dog trainer. Should children dogs be allowed on the furniture? At last! Agreement: wholeheartedly, yes! As for potty training (your dogs)? I don't know if there is a right answer.

Our major bone of contention (pun entirely intended) is feeding (our dogs). T is of the grazing school and I am of the scheduled feeding point of view. Strangely, this is true for our children, too. Everything that I have read indicates that left to their own devices, dogs will eat 25% more than they actually need if given the opportunity. Which translates to weighing 25% more than their ideal weight. And except for Griffin, this was the case at our house. Our female pom, Izzy, is fat as a tick under all that fur. Blackie loses her waistline every winter and finds it again after hiking in the mountains in the summer.

Then came Holly. Holly has totally tipped the scales on the feeding issue (again! with the puns! I can't help myself!). Since her arrival on Christmas Eve, the rest of our pack has started losing weight. And Holly is finding it. Why are the other hounds getting so trim? Because Hoover Holly is eating EVERYONE'S food! At her last vet visit, she weighed in at a dainty 90 pounds.

We had to give up on grazing. Instead, we fill the big dogs' bowl at meal times, hoping that Blackie will be able to muscle in her share of the grub. She often resorts to eating the little dogs' food - which involves squatting down under a baker's rack to reach it. T can't stand the sight of the bottom of an empty dog bowl, so I think he must be sneaking extra chow into it on the sly. I have noticed that Blackie is plumping up again, so now I guess both of our big dogs will be big fat dogs.

T refuses to regard the herd as dogs. He thinks of them as 'furry people'. Fat and happy furry people at that.


*More like, "No way! Except for Griffin. And sometimes Izzy. Or Blackie and Holly as long as I am not the one sleeping!"