Adolescent boys are assholes.

Dante is a canine adolescent boy.

I had to meddle more yesterday.  I don’t want Hannah making a habit of growling (uselessly) at him whenever he gets close. Her unwillingness to bat him out of the way– her cat-like avoidance behaviors– has encouraged him to push his luck. Yesterday evening I watched as he tugged her favorite stuffed duck out of her mouth as she stood there, helplessly growling and unwilling to do more to defend herself. I of course descended like the wrath of the Almighty. Dante and I had a very serious talk about being a gentleman. Hannah and I had a heart-to-heart about standing up for herself, and all three of us humans have attempted to demonstrate to Hannah the ‘push the annoying puppy aside’ technique.

Also, as a puppy, he likes to play with feet. My feet, Raymond’s feet. Hannah’s feet. This is definitely part of the social problem; Hannah’s incredibly sensitive about her feet and her learned response is to get away as quickly as possible.

She seemed happier after the wrath of God episode, though. Just a little, but maybe it reassured her we do love her. It certainly made me realize that Dante’s a cute kid but it’s going to take a lot of work to make him into a nice dog.