My dog is perfect. She's like a little human being. I bathe her at least once a week; she doesn't shed and her hair grows and grows until it's cut and styled by Rebecca, our excellent groomer.
We named her Holly, after the holly trees in Victoria British Columbia, a city we love.
She cuddles on my lap in the morning when I have my coffee, and even though I know I shouldn't, sometimes I let her sleep on the end of our bed.
So when my brand new friend -- who just wrote this great book on managing fertility -- invited me over for a puppy playdate with her 9-month old Maltese Shih Tzu, 'Happy,' I said yes!
My Shih Tzu, after all, is perfect. I thought perhaps Holly could teach Happy how to stop peeing inside her own house and how to use her new dog door.
You can guess this is only going in one direction...
When I arrived at the house, we made tea in the kitchen while Holly and Happy played inside, until my friend's preschooler announced (in one of those cute and loud preschool voices), 'There's DOG WEE on the FLOOR.' My friend said, 'Oh, Happy must have had another accident!'
'No,' the little boy said, 'it was HER DOG.'
Dead silence.
Um, yes, it was. For the first time ever, Holly peed on the floor.
In someone else's house.
Luckily, the floor was timber. So my friend ran around with paper towels wiping up while I put the dogs outside.
Done. Time for tea.
We sat together in new white armchairs in Claire's beautiful house, sipping from china cups, overlooking the dogs playing on the deck and the peaceful view of Garigal National Park through her massive windows. We talked, we laughed, we connected on a deep female level, as you do at morning tea. Until Holly hunched over and pooed on the deck.
Not on the grass. Not out of eyesight. Nope -- she pooed in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the CLEAN DECK.
While we ran around grabbing dog bags and disinfectant -- and the dogs trotted nervously on the deck spreading dog poo -- my new friend kept saying (in her British accent) it's perfectly okay and it's absolutely fine. I think she meant it.
I have one important Greek word for myself. Hubris. Excessive pride.
It'll get you every time.
There is no take away lesson except this...
You love who you love, even if they poo on someone else's pristine deck.
<If you know someone who might benefit from an empowered perspective on fertility, please consider sharing Claire Hall's new book. You can find it in Australian bookstores and online worldwide...Claire's a fabulous life coach and a really lovely person....and, well, I owe her one. Obviously.>