Schismogenesis

And a Dink-Dink Parable

As I entered the bedroom, Alley encouraged Dink-Dink to bark at me (by making the same mocking barking sound herself). Dink charged at me, coming close to the edge of the bed and nearly giving me a heart attack. She is about eight inches tall, nine pounds, and she absolutely was not allowed to jump off of the bed.

I couldn’t believe her dog-mom was allowing such unsafe behavior to happen on her watch, but this was the direction things were heading in.

This modern War of the Roses had begun to escalate a few months prior, when we had first adopted Dinkles from Little Paws Rescue. Alley and I both agreed that there needed to be a good balance between discipline and freedom, and we both agreed to do our best to keep this ratio balanced.

We started out pretty much the same on day one, with each of us spoiling Dink-Dink about the same amount, and with each of us doing a little bit of (mostly preventative) scolding. Sometimes, when we were mad at her, we would call her “ma’am”, just so tha…