It's Never Okay to BULLY #StopBullying

The Guilty Pawty

Moose is a really sweet guy. He is! And it has been really fun watching him come out of his shell this week. He is totally devoted to my Mommy and even lets her (and Aunt B who looks like Mommy) pet and pick him up. That is a huge difference from Sunday when he arrived.

And therein lies the problem. His devotion to my Mommy made him into a bit of a bully today. A little backstory. . .

Lulu is so dark you cannot tell her nose from her ears!

Mommy got a text yesterday from our FURiend Lulu. You remember Lulu - she spent time here at Christmas and last SPRING she spent a whole week. Well it seems her Mommy and Aunt had to go out of town on BUSINESS (that is NOT like bidness, which is what I thought and Mommy sternly said no. It is more like what SHE does all day in her office. . . and I don't mean NETFLIX) and didn't want to leave Lulu in a crate all day. And, not too surprisingly, Lulu didn't want to be in a crate all day, either. So she asked if she could come over to my house and play and I said an emphatic YES! We loves loves loves having Lulu over to play. And it would be fun to have 5 of us playing, huh?

So this morning, very very early, Lulu arrived. All of us rushed to the door and greeted her. Yay! Yay! Yay! She was a little shy and flustered because she did not recognize the other two dogs (Pablo and Moose). Once her Mommy left, she got a little upset and sat by the door crying. We kept telling her it was okay. She was only staying for the day because her Mommy didn't even bring a crate or bed or anything!

That is when it happened. Moose went over to her sitting there crying by the door and began to taunt her. He stood as large as he could and puffed out his little chest. Then he acted like he wanted to play but he didn't really. So Mommy called Lulu over to her and when Lulu got up to walk to Mommy, Moose ran toward her and got between her and Mommy, again standing tall and puffing his chest out. All this time he was not charging or biting, mind you. He was more or less making it clear he was "the boss" of Mommy.

A-hem. I am but I don't bully.

See his posture? Moose almost looks taller than Lulu and he is
not - by a lot

Then he got the zoomies and started dancing around Lulu to get her to "play." We were in shock and I admit, I didn't know what to do. Neither did Pablo as he'd never seen this side of Moose! Mommy took charge and picked Lulu up to comfort her and told Moose to knock it off. She told him he was still her good boy and Lulu was only at the house for the day. Then she had Lulu sit next to her as she finished the dishes AND then put my favorite RED BED (which is really Molly's) in the office and put Lulu in it. She told the boys to lay down on their beds, which they did.


We understand why Moose acted like he did - he is insecure . . . and it is a good thing he is able to bond with Mommy. But he should not have treated Lulu that way - especially since he does not know her and does not know she is already a member of our extended family - like he now is.

What do we do?

Molly chose to hide

And we should not have stood by and done nothing. We should have told Moose to knock it off and leave Lulu be. But we chickened out and didn't and now I owe Lulu a HUGE APOLOGY! And I think Moose understands now that Lulu is not a threat to his relationship with Mommy, just like I don't see him as a threat to my relationship with Mommy.

Mommy negotiating PEACE

We need remember that Mommys are able to love us all.

And we need to be more sympathetic to what others might be going through. Moose didn't know that Lulu was sad about her Mommy leaving her so he should have kindly SHARED my Mommy's time.

Despite Moose's past and his insecurities and fears, he should not have taken it out on somePUGGY younger, smaller (no, Lulu is a lot bigger than Moose), scareder, or what ever is going on in their lives.

There is simply NO EXCUSE TO BULLY.

I think Moose knows that now.