a few weeks ago we had a visit from family, including our niece and nephew, jazlynn & tyler, 5-year-old twins who are full to the brim with awesome sauce. we had many activities planned but there was also a hurdle we were hoping to clear. ty has been scared of dogs since infancy – he’s fine with all other animals, loves them in fact, but dogs are a no go for him. can you imagine he scored us as an aunt and uncle??? what are the chances…an aunt and uncle whose house essentially exists as his worst nightmare!
jaz and ty came for a visit last year and beforehand ty stated he was ready to pet a dog. we had phineus all set and ready to receive but just phinny’s mere presence was plenty for ty. before this visit ty predictably stated he was gonna pet a dog - we weren’t convinced but we had phin on stand-by just in case. at first ty was hesitant (and by hesitant i mean he was standing up on a chair) but after watching jaz love on phin he decided to give it a try and in that moment magic happened…
the boy pet a dog! lest you think the bravery stopped there the next day jaz & ty met the whole pack for the first time, albeit from the other side of the fence. in their defense a fence offers little comfort when 16 dogs come running at you, it is nothing short of amazing when just the day before you had been reluctant to pet one dog. consider also that a sizeable percentage of our dogs are considerably larger than them.
by the last day of the visit jaz & ty were comfortably hanging out in the house with 5 dogs milling around, happy to pet whichever one came up to them. as is always the case though the one dog who wanted nothing to do with them (a little monkey named zig) was the one they really wanted to pet. perhaps for their next visit zig will have gotten over his fear of people…he has an amazing example to follow in ty.
i would be remiss if i didn’t offer some praise for phineus, our family's unsung hero. he mainly hangs in the background (unless it’s dark out and then he’s outside doing his best brave livestock guardian impression) and demands very little other than food (as much as you’re willing to part with he’ll take). he’s the dog we bring out with kids or anyone afraid of dogs because he’s just the sweetest being ever…i maintain strongly that his organs are packed full with buttercream.
