Mi Nam’s house rules:
1. No eating human food, with the exception of chicken and egg yokes.
2. No barking.
3. The couch, kitchen leather benches and the floor mat (aka my bed) are off limits.
4. The bathroom and clothes room (aka old bedroom) are also off limits.
5. No jumping up on guests.
6. All treats given to Mi Nam are to be eaten only on his kitchen floor sweater.
These are the six rules Snickers and I have agreed upon but he’s got some other strange rules that he enforces upon Mi Nam, like insisting he not sit in “begging pose” whenever we eat and not cleaning himself in front of us. I find it kind of ironic though that Snickers insist Mi Nam is “just a dog” and yet some of his rules clearly disregard or are meant to control certain behaviors that are clearly natural for a dog to do.
One thing that drives Snickers bonkers is whenever Mi Nam steps on our sleeping blanket. He hates that. However, when Snickers was away in Japan, Mi Nam’s routine place to sleep at night was were Snickers now sleeps, on my right side. He teased me the other day, claiming that an apparent drool stain on his pillow was from me. It was really from Mi Nam though.
I can’t help but laugh every time Snickers wakes up and heads off to the bathroom to shower. Mi Nam peaks his head out of his little bed area from under my desk and, when he notes that the coast is clear, he dashes over to my side and plops right down on the bedding. He gets in a good couple of minutes before he notes Snickers turning off the shower and then he dashes back over to his bed.
Mi Nam is by no means spoiled. With the exception of letting him break some rules cause, weIl, I think it’s funny and no big deal for him to want to lie on the blanket, I try to treat him somewhat like a person. I’ll never treat him like a little prince and I wouldn’t be caught dead carrying him around outside like so many other people do with their dogs. Having said this, I must admit that yes, I do talk to him. I can't stand people who talk baby-talk to their pets but I can't quite pinpoint what age level exactly it is I talk to him at. He's only 5 years old but they say that one human year is seven dog years so, bearing that in mind, I talk to him more as if he's a young person I guess. I talk to him in Korean and though I’m sure he doesn’t fully understand what I am saying, his ears perk up like he’s trying to decode my words. I’ve always been a cat person, I grew up with a house of cats, but ever since I got Mi Nam I’ve really changed into a dog person. Unlike cats who are so incredibly independent, a dog is a very dependent animal who you can’t just leave a litter box, food, and water out and head off for vacation. I loved the cats I grew up with – Rocky, Bobo, Teddy, and Scrappy-Joe – but the bond that I have with Mi Nam, a French bulldog, is clearly on such a higher level than that which I had with my cats. My only regret with Mi Nam is that I didn’t adopt him earlier. I think everyone should have a dog.
QUESTION OF THE DAY...
I wonder, are dogs just as annoyed at people using baby-talk to them as those around them are?
QUOTE OF THE DAY...
If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail.
-- Fran Lebowitz
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