They have 2 mutts. Kitty and Nix. Yes, a dog named Kitty. They aren't little fluffy woof woof puppies. They are good sized dogs. I was carrying Joseph in a carrier that was attached to me. We walked to the store, hung out on the tractor, watched the boys work on the bikes, and enjoyed the sunny day. I was standing at my car and Joseph sat and screamed with delight. I couldn't figure out what he was looking at. I thought that it was the bikes. Boy was I wrong.
My brother in laws neighbor has 2 dogs who sat at their invisible fence barking at us the majority of the time that we were outside working on the bike. Joseph was staring at them. Kicking and giggling. I couldn't figure out what was going on. We walked up to the house where they let the dogs out and he started back up. Nix came right to the line and licked his feet and he kicked and screamed happily. We all laughed. Then Kitty did the same, same response. I was surprised. When they licked his face, he did the same thing.
We haven't taken Joseph to be around the dogs because they are quiet hyper. We decided that once it was warmer and we could be outside with them, we would work on the interaction with Joseph. Interestingly enough, he did really well with Kitty and Nix so I started to warm up to the idea of having some interaction with them.
Yesterday, we grilled burgers and had the dogs out. Joseph was in the kitchen in his chair playing. All of a sudden he starts fussing. It wasn't time to eat, he wasn't dirty, I couldn't tell what was going on. Justin started laughing and I couldn't figure out why. Apparently, Tank was at the deck whining because Joseph was whining. I brought Joseph outside and let him sniff his feet. Joseph started laughing and giggling. Tank didn't jump on him or up on the side of the porch. Just looked at him and sat. We told him it was okay and he licked him and did amazing with him.
Point of my very long drug out story is this. I thought that the dogs would be way to hyper around Joseph and be to rough with him. To my surprise, they were more gentle than I imagined. We spend way to much time putting people in a box because of what we know about them. We tend to not just judge them by their cover and their past BUT also by their limitations. Or what we think their limitations are. I spent 6 months imagining that Tank was going to be to much around Joseph and he was AMAZING with him. Now, I'm not stupid enough to say that I would leave him alone with him, BUT I will be able to take him downstairs with me when I walk the dogs to interact with them.
Stop putting people in a box in your own mind. People are limitless. It's other people and their own mind that put limitations on themselves. We have to stop telling people they can't do things because it is out of their reach or what we feel that their qualifications. Allow people to unexpectedly surprise you with their accomplishments. God has great plans for each of us. Even for Tank and Joseph's relationship.
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