I went with my daughter to pick up our dogs. We’d been out of town and the dogs had a relaxing few days at the boarder they usually frequent. I like to think of it as a spa for them instead of spending time locked in a cage. It sounds more user friendly. We’d missed our furry friends and were glad to pick them up.

We got out of the the car and saw our Golden Retriever, Winnie, immediately. He was in an outside pen and smiled when he saw us. He had on his collar, dog tags, and we could tell he was thrilled to see us. He was going back and forth, trying to get to us, and was barking. Of course he was happy, even a spa can get old after a few days.

We went inside, paid a small fortune, and came back outside to wait for the dogs. We kept talking to Winnie in our “doggie voices” that sounded like we were talking to a one-year-old baby, as we waited for our little dog, Ellie, to be delivered to us. I assumed we would get Ellie first, and then Winnie. Winnie was jumping around and excited to give us a hug. He could see and hear us, but couldn’t touch us, and he desperately wanted to get out of the cage and into our arms.

And, that’s when it happened.

The dog trainer didn’t only bring us Ellie, she also brought us Winnie.

“Wait,” I said to my daughter, “How is that Winnie if Winnie is right here?”

“OMG, Mom,” she said, “We’ve been talking to another person’s dog. The dog we thought was Winnie isn’t our dog.”

“But it looks just like Winnie and he’s wearing the same collar and tags. Plus, he was happy to see us.”

The dog we thought was our dog actually wasn’t our dog. Meanwhile, our dogs, Ellie and Winnie were thrilled to see us and jumping everywhere. And while we were happy to see them, we were in a state of confusion and shock.

How did this happen? What kind of “parents” were we? How could we not tell our dog from another dog?

We were completely dumbfounded, and didn’t know what to say. We put the dogs into the car, got inside, and turned to each other.

“We suck,” I said to Avi.

“Did you ever confuse me for another child when you went to pick me up?” she asked.

“No,” I said, “Never. Kids are different than dogs.”

She looked at me with a funny expression, and we both just laughed.

Laughter makes everything better!

Find meaning each day,

Dara

Today, you can see me on a live blab interview at 12:00PM, EST, with Wendy Merron.

Here’s the link:

https://blab.im/wendy-merron-how-to-stay-positive-when-the-kids-are-screaming-and-the-dog-just-threw-up

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