Pet Parenting Journey – Why? aka Roscoe vs Asda

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…

Apart from big boy Roscoe who was barking madly at the Asda dude that had just turned up.

I think it was actually a few days before Christmas, but things were definitely quiet.

Roscoe does tend to bark at the door and when couriers pull up; he’s difficult to stop.

But it was this occasion that made me reflect on whether we had a problem that we needed to sort out.

It was about 9.30pm. We don’t often have visitors then, in fact, it’s usually around this time Roscoe makes his first (failed) attempt to round us up and get us to bed.

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So he reacted pretty badly to the Asda dude arriving. We shut Roscoe in the front room after our initial attempts to quieten him failed but – what a racket!

He sounded ferocious actually.

It must have shaken the Asda guy as he mentioned Roscoe and hinted at a lack of training.

That hits hard, it’s exactly like someone saying you’ve brought your kids up badly.

I made excuses for Roscoe grumpily and resorted to bare minimum chat (mini-sulk if you must know).

After the delivery, and as we were putting things away, my partner Gill said what a nice man he’d been.

“Was he Gillian?” I’d gone with the full name potential-strop indicator to close things down.

The Moment of Reflection

However, over the next few days, I reflected…

That must have been scary for the driver and the last thing he needed at the end of a long day.

I was embarrassed. I could feel my cheeks reddening as I re-remembered (even now I’m hesitant about writing any of this).

Then I really started reflecting and trying to see things from other visitor’s points of view and how they reacted.

Roscoe is a big German Shepherd – and he was intimidating people – and we were seeing that but passing it off mentally as him being a boisterous pup.

We knew he wouldn’t hurt anyone, but I don’t think everyone else saw it that way.

The fact I work in the dog industry made me even more embarrassed. 

I felt like I should know better.

But I don’t know better.

Like many pet parents, most of what I do is based on what my parents did or what Gill says her parents did, and what we pick up as we scroll the internet or watch TV.

We just stumble along trying our best (much like any kind of parenting actually).

However… ‘Peace of Mind for Pet Parents’ is on the header at the top of our website.

I was suffering from a severe lack of peace of mind, and it had nothing to do with our no nasties policy.

There are so many other pet parent areas where we could help ease worries and help bring peace of mind.

The Journey Begins…

That’s why I’ve started this blog about the Pet Parenting Journey. 

If you’re reading this then, like me, you want to give your dog their best life. Our new pet parenting blog is us going on that journey together.

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We’ll be finding out from experts about specific problems like Roscoe’s barking (and I’ll be trying to solve that).

But I’m hoping it’s going to be much more than that. 

We want to create moments around our dog’s health, relationships and happiness, and then use them to help build a gorgeous pet parenting journey together.

You can find out how we plan to do that in the next post:
https://bounceandbella.co.uk/pet-parenting-journey-how

Darren

PS.
I’ll also tell you the story of when I burst through a bunch of undergrowth and how what happened next will… Shock you to your Core!!!

PPS.
Sorry about that – it won’t shock you to your Core!!! – I’ve accidentally become addicted to dodgy American crime docs and their narrators now live in my head rent-free.