Toddler meets dog for first time
January 3, 2022 10:43 AM   Subscribe

 
This is great.
posted by Hypatia at 11:20 AM on January 3, 2022


This is basically how I react to dogs now.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:03 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


The pandemic has been so hard for dogs.

They can't see our faces so they can't read our emotions -- which often leads to fraught encounters. And if they don't get a ride with professional dog walkers now and then, they don't get to meet other dogs as much, which also leads to fraught encounters. On my walks to QFC to get groceries I often see dogs barking furiously at other dogs.

Dog owners: hire an occasional dogwalker for the common good of us all, four legged and two legged.
posted by y2karl at 12:18 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


The pandemic has been so hard for dogs

I dunno, I think my dog considers the pandemic an annus mirabilis-- suddenly everyone's home all the time and in constant need of hugs.
posted by gwint at 12:32 PM on January 3, 2022 [17 favorites]


Well, there is that but it was the outside social context of which I spoke.
posted by y2karl at 12:36 PM on January 3, 2022


on the other side of the divide, there's this classic: Baby reacts to cat

Some of us obviously have this gene that makes us really happy to see a furry friend, and some of us marry people who have it.
posted by bl1nk at 12:44 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


It always surprises me to see how gentle cats are with infants even though natural selection would seem to explain why: survival of the nicest.
posted by y2karl at 12:51 PM on January 3, 2022


That's a good dog.
posted by amarynth at 1:13 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


They're all good dogs, amaronth
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:14 PM on January 3, 2022 [12 favorites]


That dog is an absolute MUPPET
posted by Grandysaur at 1:34 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Muppet-ass, even.
posted by y2karl at 2:05 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


One of my favorite parts of Dogs of 2021 was the meeting of the toddler and the longhaired dachshund puppy in the park.
posted by y2karl at 3:20 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Awww I wish my big dog were so good with kids. He looks like a muppet but he is just freaked out by them. Love how brave and curious and gentle that kiddo is!!
posted by obfuscation at 3:29 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


y2karl: "It always surprises me to see how gentle cats are with infants even though natural selection would seem to explain why: survival of the nicest."

When my son was born my cat would reach out his paw with the claws firmly stored and gently tap his face. It was scary at first but we quickly realized there was 0% chance that he'd ever hurt him. He used to sleep close to my son, basically guarding him.
posted by signal at 3:58 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


gwint: " I dunno, I think my dog considers the pandemic an annus mirabilis-- suddenly everyone's home all the time and in constant need of hugs."

My cats are having a really hard time with the fact that my wife started to go to her non-home office everyday.
posted by signal at 4:00 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Our five month old kitten-soon-to-be-cat is the most active we’ve ever had in 40-plus years of cats. She is go-go-go *all* the time and does not like to be held or cuddled—my wife and I have numerous wounds resulting from our reluctance to accept this.

Our six-year-old granddaughter can carry her blithely around the house and has, so far as I know, never received a scratch. The ten-year-olds can carry her briefly, then she squirms down, *usually* without scratches. There is clearly an age-related thing going on.

The little kid with the dog is certainly a cutie. I almost never watch intertube videos but that one was a winner. Thanks for posting it.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 4:28 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


These two dogs I met in Vanuatu are the muppetest I've ever met.
posted by dobbs at 4:41 PM on January 3, 2022


My heart!

The little dance the toddler does, he’s so excited. My god. Adorable. And what a good dog.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:06 PM on January 3, 2022


Both the cat & the dog videos are awesome, big smile here.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 8:28 PM on January 3, 2022


He used to sleep close to my son, basically guarding him.

There are countless examples of just that on YouTube -- cats running interference for their toddlers on open lawns, going all claws at any dog crossing their path -- at any distance because, well, cats. Cats even batting away the hands of baby moms and dads when they reach into the crib.

Before those started coming up in my YouTube feed, I had no idea: family cats acting like family dogs around the bald giant kittens. It can be so moving to see that I actually tear up sometimes.
posted by y2karl at 9:01 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


I love how when the dog finally licks him in the face he's suddenly all "Nope, outta here!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:16 AM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


Well, it was his first time. He got points from me for not bursting into tears.

On a sidenote, I was just thinking about play bows in dogs. They seem to be genetically wired in instinctual moves.

But then I thought about the first time I did a forward step with my right foot and got a play bow back with the dog then getting the zoomies.

How did I know how to do that? I didn't, I think. I just knew how to do it. Co-evolutionary instinctive interaction? I think maybe so.
posted by y2karl at 11:41 AM on January 4, 2022


I dunno, I think my dog considers the pandemic an annus mirabilis-- suddenly everyone's home all the time and in constant need of hugs.

Our cat has already been getting annoyed that I've started going into the office a couple of days a week and my husband has been going back to bartending.

Also, I think my manager may be a bit sad to not see her in the background of work calls on the days I'm in the office. (Had a call earlier where Manager asked "where's your furry friend?" and I had to explain that ordinarily our calls are in the morning, so Penny is asleep behind me, but this time it was afternoon and Penny had gone to her cubicle under my desk [ah, the irony] and was asleep.)
posted by Lexica at 5:42 PM on January 4, 2022


This is fun. I can't really imagine what it would be like to meet a dog or a cat for the first time. I was sleeping among dogs long before I could stand up or talk. Getting a cat of my own is probably the first gift I ever requested as a child, in incomplete sentences. (I do slightly remember meeting my first calf, though. That was mind-blowing.) I'm not sure I'll ever care for a dog again - I really like both a home and job that are pretty much incompatible with giving a dog a satisfying life - but, I sure do enjoy taking advantage of spending time with other people's dogs.

The mask thing is pretty weird, though. Not since childhood halloween costumes have I so easily made friendly dogs uncomfortable. I'm usually pretty good at making peace with timid or hostile dogs, but the mask really makes a difference. How it is that a dog knows what a human face should look like it unclear to me. But, they do.
posted by eotvos at 8:37 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


They can read our bare faces. That's how they learned to smile.
posted by y2karl at 10:25 AM on January 5, 2022


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