Bad Pet Parent

I just got back from taking our two kids for a walk. I met a co-worker at a nearby park. She decided to bring her puppy as well. Of course her puppy is so well behaved, walked right beside her on the leash, and even stopped and sat down while people would walk by. My dogs, however, ran all over the place, pulled me every which way, and barked at every moving shadow we walked by. Hannah even got so crazy that I fell down and scraped my knee at some point. Now I know that this is our fault. We haven't had them trained and don't spend a lot of time working with them on their leashes (Toby's actually gotten pretty good since we used to walk and run him everyday while I was in college). But Hannah is just out of control. She's not used to being around other people or dogs, so I know that it helps getting her out of the house and mingling. But every time I think about our dogs are so out of control, I think about how bad our human kids are going to be. We already get disapproving looks when we take our dogs to PetSmart, I can just imagine the looks we will get from disapproving parents when we go out to eat. Or how I'm so nervous getting our Report Card from the PetsHotel wondering how they did, I think about how nervous I am going to be going to a parent-teacher conference.

But then, I look over at my crazy, out-of-control brats and see how sweet they are, all tuckered out from their long trip. I realize that they were just so excited to finally get out of the house and they absolutely love walks. So here are my sweet puppies, all tuckered out. And I realize how much I love my pups and how much I will love my kids, even if I do get disapproving looks.