Yesterday I was in the kennel brushing a beautiful Shepherd mix named Sadie Lynn. A woman walked up and said "Isn't it terrible that anyone would let their dog get so fat?" Now, I happen to be fat myself, so perhaps it didn't occur to this woman that a comment like that might make me feel badly, too. In fact, I have a bigger percentage of weight over the accepted ideal than Sadie does!
I tell people who make these thoughtless remarks (and there have been several) that I walk and exercise Sadie frequently, and that Sadie is getting "in shape" (a phrase that implies that there is a certain kind of shape we should be...hmmm....) much faster than I am.
The other day I was about 25 feet away from a boy of about 7 who looked at Sadie Lynn and said "Look at that fat dog!"
To her credit, the boy's mom said, "Look, you hurt that poor dog's feelings! (Dogs are quite sensitive to human emotions and even if they don't understand all the words, they totally understand the tone of voice.)
And then the little boy said "I'm sorry, Doggie. You're a good Doggie." That moment improved my faith in humanity, at least a little bit anyway.
Dogs also get subjected to canine stereotyping/dog racism. One day I was walking a bully breed mix (probably Lab & Pit Bull) by the name of Sancho. He was the sweetest old dog you could ever hope to meet. One day I was walking Sancho back to his kennel, and Sancho flashed his famous smile at the people nearby, since Sancho loved all people and wanted them to know it. Some kids were delighted by him, and the mom noticed, and pulled the kids out of the way and said in a horrified tone, "Oh no, that's a Pit Bull! We don't want a Pit Bull." Sancho waited for months to be adopted even though he was the nicest dog in the place.
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