My brother is at a film festival this week, so we are taking care of his dog, Yoshi, while he’s gone. We spent the day yesterday preparing and adjusting the house to temporarily have two dogs, but I actually should have prepped for three because apparently James is a dog now.
Schuyler and Yoshi have met a couple times, but yesterday was the first time we really let the two of them play. I guess James thought their weird doggy dance of nipping, rolling, and butt-sniffing looked fun, because he wanted in on the action.
Yoshi was totally cool with this, and why wouldn’t he be? Someone else to play with! He immediately started bouncing around with James, chasing him and licking his face. James, who is normally not cool with unsolicited dog affection, was surprisingly okay with this. When I mentioned my surprise to Mike he said, “When in Rome.”
Schuyler, on the other hand, is totally thrown by Dog James. When James started crawling around on all fours, Schuyler looked at him with an expression that can only be described as, “Oh HELLLLL no.” Maybe that’s because James already steals her toys on a regular basis (whenever I’m looking for one of Schuyler’s balls, there’s a 100% chance that it’s in James’ room.), so she likely couldn’t imagine what other indignities this would bring.
I thought James the Dog would be a quick thing, but it continued all the way up through bedtime. The good news is that crawling around on all fours is surprisingly exhausting for a three-year-old, and he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. The bad thing is that James sobbed when I wouldn’t bring him along when I took Yoshi for a quick evening walk because, “I gotta pee, too!” Sorry, James. You can pretend you’re a dog as much as you want when you’re inside the house, but I draw the line at letting you pee in front of the neighbors.
Becca says:
There was a brief period where my sister also decided she was a cat, only it lasted for something like a week. I was too young to remember but it was a regular story in our house while I was growing up. During this week, my parents happened to have a planned dinner party. My sister, refused to break character and spent the entire evening hiding under tables while periodically meowing. Apparently the quote from the evening was “Oh, don’t mind X, she’s a cat now.” lol
Chris says:
My grand daughter did the same thing for a long period of time. She did both a cat or a dog. Kids are so funny.
Melissa says:
So sweet! I went through a “I’m a dog” phase at about the same age and I actually did pee in the front yard. My family loves to remind me of this… 30 years later. Enjoy having the two pups together! We got a puppy when our older dog was about 3 and they are the best of friends! He really trained the puppy how to be a dog which was hysterical to watch. You might just end up wanting another.
Toni says:
You totally gave me a laugh for the day!
Jen R. says:
My daughter pretends to be a dog all the time! She probably started it about that same age and at that time, I swear she spent about 90% of every day as a dog! Now she is 7 and, you know, she has to do things that require being a human, like attending first grade. But she still plays a dog a lot of the time at home! Sometimes she’ll be another animal, like a cheetah is a pretty popular one, but it still seems like dog is her fave!
Katrina says:
I remember being about 4 years old and I had a doggie Halloween costume that I continued to wear after Halloween had passed. I used to wear it when my mom had company, and I’d crawl into the room they were in and pretend to be a dog. The funny thing is, I actually remember thinking and believing that once I put that costume on, they would really think I was a dog. Like, once the costume was on, I actually “became” a dog.– I was a strange kid. No wonder I grew up to have ten children. A “litter”, of course
Becca says:
I never realized this was such a common little kid thing to do!
Anna says:
So cute! James is hilarious and I LOVE Yoshi! Did you get any pictures of Yoshi and Schuyler playing together? Or was it just a blur?