Opinion: Sad the dog days don't last forever

Staff Photo by Mark Kennedy / Dogs and boys share a lot in common.
Staff Photo by Mark Kennedy / Dogs and boys share a lot in common.
photo Staff Photo by Mark Kennedy / Dogs and boys share a lot in common.

I'm not going to say boys and dogs are exactly the same ... but hey, they sure seem alike.

When dogs are not sleeping, they're eating - a pattern punctuated by random bursts of play. Boys, too.

At our house this summer, we've got two male dogs and two male children under the same roof. I can't shake the thought that the pairs share traits in common.

We got a new puppy last month - a now 5-month old Cavapoo named Keeper. We already had an 8-year-old Cavapoo named Boise. Their interactions have been - in a word - frantic.

Keeper runs around the house trying to lick Boise in the face and stealing his bones, and Boise barks at him incessantly, as if to say: "Stop it, you little creep!"

And then they eat, snuggle up and take a nap.

I just assumed that because Boise was older, bigger and stronger that he would naturally be dominant. I expected him to nip Keeper once or twice, or to knock him backward to assert his authority.

This has not happened. When we picked up Keeper from the breeder in Alabama, she informed us that he was the " boss dog" of his litter. And Keeper has seen no reason to relinquish this title at his new home in Tennessee.

Boise, on the other hand, has always been submissive. Even before we got another dog, he would take food out of his bowl, piece by piece, and transport it to another room to chew. I've always assumed that this was a holdover from his puppyhood, where he obviously didn't feel comfortable competing for food with his litter mates.

It makes me think that this whole dominance-submission thing in the animal world gets sorted out in mere weeks after birth and pretty much gets set in stone.

I read once that firstborn children have a different mindset than subsequent kids because they were not born into a world where sharing family resources was front of mind - at least not in the beginning. Firstborns started life with the full attention of Mom and Dad.

I've always noticed that our younger son is not shy about raising his hand if he senses big brother is getting an extra helping of family resources. Like they say: The squeaky wheel gets the chicken nugget. It's like younger children keep a ledger, and they let you know if they feel shorted.

"Dad," our younger son might say, tapping a pencil against his chin. "I've been looking at your camera roll from 2017, and I think you might owe me a purple slushie and a Braves game."

For teenage/young adult males, the default activity is sleep; punctuated by the urge to eat Popsicles. When that sleep/eat pattern winds down, often it takes a burst of activity to reset the cycle.

"Here, let me run a little bit so I can get tired and take a nap before dinner" might be the reasoning.

Dogs are the same way. Give them a bone and a blanket, and they're good. If you want to ensure a good night's sleep, though, arrange a play period right before bedtime.

The best times for us parents are when the boys and dogs pile into mom and dad's bed together for a group nap.

After all, summer break is almost over, and with it lazy days and endless naps. They don't call them the dog days for nothing.

But eventually puppies grow up and boys move out.

And nothing is ever quite as simple and good again.

Email Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.

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