Target and Bruno

I am not a cat person. Show me one and I will not ooh, aah over it. I don’t know why that happens- maybe its some past life thing. But, show me a dog, and you bet I will like it, unless he is jumping to bite me. Then, I am more likely to be peeing in my pants. Not to be taken literally though- I stopped that way back. Honest.

So when our front door neighbors got a pup, I was delighted.

Target is a bundle of joy. Literally.

She comes running to greet V when he leaves for office at 6.45 am. If I step out during the day and she hears our front gate open, she comes running to get petted by me. She has also learnt how to enter through our backyard gate, and in the afternoon will sit outside our door, waiting for me to come out and play with her. On weekends, when both V and I are nestled inside and haven’t shown our faces to her, she stands outside our gate, letting out barks to call us out. And she showers us with this affection, even though we have never bribed her with any food.

Thanks to her, the long hours that V has been spending in the office, have been made better by her on-and-off presence. Its entertaining watching her. Running after a moth, playing with a disposed of corn cob, dropping it between her legs and then looking here and there trying to figure out where it went. Two-month olds, I tell you! They know how to bring a smile to your face.

So, when our other friends asked us to dog sit their dog, Bruno for a day, I was a little worried as to how Bruno and Target will get along.

Bruno is a golden retriever, I am guessing two years old. Target is a mixed breed, closer to how a black lab would look, and about two months old. Both are extremely friendly.

When we got Bruno home from our friend’s place, Target was coincidentally out and came running to our car. I had to pick her up, while V got Bruno and his stuff inside. After that the gates were shut since we did not want Bruno to run away.

Target did not like this at all.

She has had full access to our house whenever she wants. And she did not care for this new restriction one bit. The next few hours were spent barking and trying her best to get her body through the little gap the gate and the ground has. I tried to calm her down by petting her from the other side of the fence. This affection for Target did not go well with Bruno, who surprisingly, is the jealous kinds. He jumped immediately, softly biting my hand to take it away from petting Target.

It was amusing to see him get so jealous.

We tried to get the two to play when Target’s owners were present but the size difference was too much for them to handle. Also Target, being young, kept troubling Bruno, who really could not be bothered about her.

Kind of like, how it is with human beings, where the elder one always ignores the younger sibling, while the younger one follows his older brother/sister everywhere.

Anyway, seeing that the two won’t get along, we finally gave up.

The next day, Target was still upset that she was not allowed inside. And, if V or I tried to pet her from over the fence, Bruno would jump at us. I was left with no choice but to ignore both and let them sort their own differences.

Now, that Bruno has left, Target is back to her initial freedom of roaming around anywhere inside our garden. Today, the whole afternoon she spent lying outside our door. Bet she is glad that Bruno has gone.