Lessons

8-23-13

Breezer really needs to think before she decides to leap over a candle.

My angry email to several members of the Los Angeles Shelter board has resulted in an email back that has requested the Sgt of the South LA facility to call me today. I upset some people, and I am not done. I plan on elaborating more when I speak to someone. This isn’t about the dog anymore. This is about the whole system which has failed on too many occasions and results in a bad name for shelters, poor animal placement, and an overall lack of compassion that is crucial when dealing with animals and the public.

Dax is learning a hard lesson in friendship. A couple of months ago, while playing with Zack and Jessica, he slammed a door in Jessica’s face. I don’t know the details other than it was upsetting and they stopped talking to Dax for a while. Dax has since apologized and due to camp and house stuff, the boys haven’t been home as much, therefore you would think that these two kids would not hold a grudge against him.

This would be a bad assumption.

On Wednesday, the boys and I arrived home and we saw Anthony playing with Zack and Jessica outside. It was still kind of early so I told the boys to go try and play. When they went outside, Dax asked them from afar if they could come join them and were told no. This resulted in Dax coming inside in full tears.

I had Bobby go talk to them since I didn’t want to get involved. I can’t fight their battles. I also can’t force kids to be friends. This was something they needed to work out for themselves. I could guide them and advise them, but that was the extent of it.

Bobby reported back that they were in fact still mad about the door incident. They were fine with Bobby. It seemed odd that this one incident would taint their friendship, but I suppose wars have been started from less dramatic circumstances. I told Dax he should go try to talk to them if he really wanted to fix things. He and Bobby went out and I could hear their side of the conversation. Dax asked them why they were so pissed. It was a pretty long talk, but the outcome was the same. Of course, there was a little more information in that there may be some parental involvement, but this may be misinformation. Either way, I had to explain to both of them that not only do friends come and go, but that there is a lot more to friendship than they know yet.

The opted to play out front anyway, with their game plan of “impressing them”. I told them this wasn’t a great plan, but that this was their choice. I think that Zack may just be getting old enough that he was outgrowing a friend who is almost half his age. Ken thinks that they also might be lashing out due to the upcoming move. It is hard to say. Recently they have been waiving to me more when I drive by, which is hard to deal with in some ways. I don’t dislike these kids, but I am sad that they are not forgiving Dax. Then again, Dax needs to have some consequences for his temper.

Their play outside did seem to open some dialogue, but it would be some time before any active interaction takes place. Sadly, with us leaving, I don’t see them having enough time to patch things up.

I had considered taking the day off but I think I am glad I didn’t. I took apart a lot of the entertainment unit. I am going to use those shelves in the Catio at Steve. In fact, I plan on bringing them over today and setting them up. I also cleaned up a lot of other things with the intent to make my goal happen for this weekend.

Ken and the boys are picking up the truck today so that Ken and I can load it this afternoon. Once we get it all loaded up, we can stop for the day and we will bring it over to Steve tomorrow morning. We will most likely spend the day at Steve. On Sunday, we will most likely spend the day at Halldale since that will need work, too.

Maybe I need to take off a day next week. LOL!!!