What’s One More?

Several days ago I wrote about an intrusive neighbor lady, who really pushed me a bit too far with regard to Lilly. I don’t know, if other dog parents ever ‘put her in her place’, but I did and it appears to me, that she did not like that. Sorry, but if you so eagerly give your unsolicited opinion, you always run the risk of meeting someone like me. Tough sh!t for you. The world is harsh, deal with it any way you need to. Two evenings ago this woman came walking towards us yet again [ugh] and I prepared myself for drama. Instead, she walked in the street while passing us by, to put a ridiculous amount of distance between herself and us. There was no greeting, not a smile or even a look of acknowledgement. Very mature, but okay, suit yourself.
I shared this encounter with my mom. She said [as always] that I should be ‘the grown-up’ and apologize to her. What? Why? Just because I don’t let some self proclaimed wanna-be-dog-whisperer tell me how to interact with my dog? What the fudge? But of course, straight away my mom fires the standard statements at me, when she runs out of arguments that make any type of sense including, but certainly not limited to…

“Well you probably misunderstood what she meant”
“You take everything so seriously”
“That was your autism kicking into high gear”
“You always overreact like this”
“You need to control yourself”
“You have no idea how to deal with other people”

I should just know it by now. In my mom’s opinion I’m always the problem. It’s never the other person. Gosh, I’m just tired of it, honestly. Only because I told a random woman to mind her own business, basically. Well, another person added to my list of enemies. What’s one more, right?

Boundaries!

First and foremost, happy Sunday! โ˜€

In case that you don’t know, I can be a jovial, genuinely nice person – difficult to believe but true.
Now, if you push my boundaries and don’t stop before I reach the “boiling point”, then you get to meet my bitch twin right quick. This happens particularly, when it pertains to my dogs. With regard to my fur kiddos, I know very few limits [be advised]. Okay.

A lady, who lives about two blocks away from us, feels called upon to “explain the world” to everyone, who doesn’t get away quickly enough. She is the kind of person, who talks down to others. And if there’s one thing I’m highly allergic to it is, when people talk to me as if I’m a complete idiot. This lady likes animals in general, and no dog in the vicinity is “safe from her”. That’s all fine. You may be certain that I’m the last person to deny my dogs attention and cuddles from other people, as long as they like to receive it.
Just the other evening, Lilly and I enjoyed our walk. Who happens to come walking towards us? “Ma’am-know-it-all”, you guessed correctly. Joy to the world, a scolding / lesson for me was about to be in progress, only because Lilly was happy to see her with a tail wagging at 90 mph and a joyous bark. But right away said lady started in on me “Oh! But you have to teach Lilly not to do this! She is aggressive! She should not be so wound up. How come she doesn’t know that? Don’t you work with her?” This “know-it-all” kept yapping at me, and the grumpy within slowly began boiling. After plenty of chances for her, to just stop and walk away, she crossed the line when this “want-to-be-dog-whisperer” began training Lilly right there in the street. She had the verbal smackdown coming to her, and I’m not sorry. How dare you call my dog aggressive, when there was not even a hint of aggression? How dare you tell me what to do, and what kind of a relationship I should have with my dog? Red Line. Crossed. Don’t missunderstand me please, I’m not the least bit against learning from other people. But the communication style makes all the difference. And why in the first place do you try to make me feel, as if I have to defend or explain myself to you? Where do you get off? Honestly! If you don’t like me or my dog, then be gone please. My life will certainly be better without you in it. Well I told her off in no uncertain terms and I bet, for the foreseeable future she will do her best to avoid us. Another hater. Get in line, because there are quite a few others who have seniority over you ๐Ÿคฃ

And just to be perfectly clear: Lilly is a playful, sweet little cuddle bug. She is not aggressive, has never shown her little teeth and has yet to growl at me or anyone else for the first time.
With regard to learning progress: What can you expect from a dog, who survived on the streets of Italy for 5 years? What the fluff is she supposed to know, other than surviving one day at a time, by any means necessary? And besides who would I be, expecting perfection from my dogs, when I am so far away from perfection myself? My little puppy girl is just fine the way she is. She’s not allowed to misbehave [such behavior will be corrected if necessary], but it is very important to me, that her adorable whirlwind personality shines through. Anyone who has a problem with that, can hopscotch their way into oblivion, for all I care. ๐Ÿพ