Parents of human babies really DO NOT seem to like it when you compare their experiences to raising the canine form. I don’t get it. I’ve only seen one side of the equation so far, but it seems to me like it’ll be fairly similar. In fact, I swear a baby will be easier! When we bring the baby home, he or she will not be immediately running around peeing and pooping all over the floor or chewing everything in sight.
Then again, as Justin always counters, you also can’t just stick a baby in a cage and leave for hours on end. So, I suppose he has point. And we shall find out soon enough what it will really be like.
Recently, though, I think we saw a glimpse into our future when we tried to go out for dinner on a Friday night and brought along the pup.
We had spent the evening at a local fest (with Luc) but didn’t want to eat there. On the way home we passed a restaurant that we walk by every day but hadn’t tried yet. They have a pretty outdoor patio and always seemed dog friendly with bowls of water and treats outside. We asked if we could sit with our dog and they said yes, so we thought we were good to go.
Just after we sat down, the manager came out and said they didn’t actually have a permit to allow for dogs and that Luc would have to stay on the other side of the fence on the sidewalk. So we’d have to sit at a table next to the fence, then thread his leash through the rails with him on the other side.
“Ooooh, I don’t think he’s going to like that,” I told Justin. Having a railing block him from us? I don’t think so!
“Look, he’s fine,” Justin said. And to my surprise, after we moved him, he just laid down on the sidewalk.
“He’s fine now, but right after we order our food, he’s going to start barking to come by us,” I said.
We ultimately decided to take the risk and stay. It was late, and I was pretty hungry!
But I should have known better. Sure enough, as we were waiting for our food to arrive, Luc got up and started doing little barks — basically whining because he wanted to come by us.
It wasn’t especially loud, but the restaurant was a little fancier than I thought and there were all these people there for a late date night. They shouldn’t have to deal with a noisy dog! So I started panicking, thinking Luc was only going to get louder and more annoying.
First I tried distracting him by giving him ice cubes from my cup. That only worked for like a second and then he kept on with his little barks. Then I started feeding him oyster crackers one by one that were on the table. Justin said I was only rewarding him for the bad behavior, which is true but it at least shut him up momentarily. I just wanted my food to come so we could get the heck out of there!
The whole time I was just worrying and talking about Luc. “He wasn’t ready for this yet!” I said. Justin, meanwhile, didn’t think it was a big deal and thought I was creating more of a scene than the dog was.
By the time my food came, I was too distracted to even eat. I had about two bites and said let’s get out of here. After what felt like the longest wait for our check, we left with our to-go bags and I finished eating when we got home.
So much for a nice night out! Afterwards I joked — is this what will happen if we try to go out with a baby?!
Sue Drews
7 years ago
If you try to go out with your baby, you won’t even get the two bites of food. Just kidding. Kind of.
I used the exact same distractions with you and your siblings, that you used with Luc. The crackers would work for awhile, until you started to decorate the floor with them. And although I wouldn’t let you eat the ice cubes, I would hold a cup filled with them on the highchair tray. You would each be mesmerized by touching the cold and slippery cubes. It worked long enough for us to at least get our to-go bags :)
Thanks for the laughs!!