Canine Superiority Complex

So it was a typical afternoon. Luke sitting around gleefully drooling on himself as I ran around doing things ~ we had Katie and Mike's wedding last night and I had to get ready for Brook to babysit and get myself relatively put together. Luke was following Mulligan around with his eyes and screeching at him trying desperately to get Mulligan to acknowledge him. A bit of background here, Mulligan is gentle, sweet and almost pathologically submissive. He was honestly depressed when we first brought Luke home from the hospital ~ the combination of winter weather (which meant less walks and trips to the dog park), the constant stream of guests (Mulligans one real flaw is his "Wheaten Greetin'" whereby you might think that he had not had any human contact for about a year each time someone arrives at the house ~ very annoying in a small house with a new baby, its fair to say that he got yelled at a bit) and the fact that we were enthralled with this new feeble little creature just drove him into a state of despair. The 10 minutes at night and in the morning when we used to let Mully into our bed to cuddle up in between us in dog bliss were gone ~ Instead the tiny intruder was in his spot, fawned over by us. As I think back on it, its really no wonder that he was depressed, if Nate came home with a new, cuter, needier wife one day I would be pretty down too. It was much like that for Mulligan.

Anyway.

Mulligan has gotten over the dog blues, but I believe that his coping mechanism is to pretend, at all costs, that Luke does not exist. He will not make eye contact with the baby, he will not even TRY to play with Luke's toys (which shocks me as most baby toys are no different than dog toys....its as though Luke's toys have the "taint" of the intruder). Its a game I play at this point, to try to make the dog look at or in any way recognize the existence of the baby. The pics above are how it usually goes ~ Luke pathetically begs with his eyes for Mullys acknowledgement, I MAKE the dog come lay near the baby (note the baleful look Mulligan is giving me) and then a moment later Mully can take it no longer, sits up, and looks away. Its sweet, and sad, and I just cant wait to see what happens when Luke is more mobile and chasing Mulligan around the house. Someday I know that they are going to be good buddys. Right now, its a standoff. Mulligan seems to think that if he is steadfast in his refusal to recognize the baby as part of the household, one day Luke might just not be here anymore, and Mulligan can resume his rightful place as prince. Poor dog.