Sit, Stay, Roll Over .... Good Girl!

I've always smiled when people refer to their pets as their kids. It's true that we love our animals like they are one of us. Brian and I use to refer to our cat, Sophie, as our baby.... even though she was three years old and weighed 14 pounds. Every evening, Sophie would snuggle up with Brian and I would ask him if he was enjoying his daddy-kitty time. Sophie would purchase Fathers Day cards for Brian from her kitty-allowance. (Oh yes, you read that right)

Once you have a real baby, your fur-baby takes a bit of a back seat. It's not intentional, it's just that suddenly, you have a live human baby to care for and your pet becomes, well, your pet. I've seen it happen to everyone of my friends and family. I've even seen it happen to a coworker who had show dogs.

I'll admit that Sophie has taken a backseat in the McDougall house. Her basic needs of food, shelter and love are met, but utter and complete adoration is sorely lacking. She no longer has free reign of the house at night for fear that she'll decide to make Maia's crib her bed. Every fuzzy blanket in the house does not immediately become Sophie's. And, I've even noticed Brian pushing Soph off Maia's clean clothes/blankets/etc. where as in the past he would just give her a scratch and commend her on finding the softest spot in the house.

This past week or so, Sophie has re-entered the spotlight. Maia has taken serious notice and decided that Sophie is her new favorite toy. When Sophie walks by Maia, there are squeals and coos and arms wave like crazy. Sophie seems to tolerate Maia. She likes to walk just out of reach, but on occasion has been patient enough to let Maia touch her. So far, there have been no incidents of hissing or clawing reported. Just a lot of eye rolling and sighing by Sophie. I'm sure she's missing the good old days... before this non-fur baby came to live with us.