Your Dog Is Fat.
I barely made it on time, though the pouring rain, to pick Chloe up from the groomer's before they shut down for the night. I splashed through the parking lot and nearly skidded to the back of Petsmart into the groomers area where another woman was waiting on her dog. We were killing time, making small talk, thankful we made it to pick up our beloved animals when an older lady and her husband sauntered in. He meandered behind myself and the other woman, while his wife dutifully pushed her way to the front. {ummm yeah. It's called a line.}
The groomers exited with Chloe, who excited beyond belief nearly threw herself from the table they had perched her on, to place the token hanky signifying her cleanliness. She was thrilled I was there to rescue her. "Hey Chloe!" I exlaimed in my best doggy lover voice, while she jumped excitedly on the other side of the half door separating the dogs from their owners. I was glad to see her too. I may gripe about her on a daily basis, but she's my first baby.
"Ummm," I heard the older woman whisper in my ear as I passed her to grab the leash from the groomer's hand. "Chloe needs to lose some weight."
Seriously? I thought, but I kept my thoughts to myself, with a dutiful, "I know."
{Pause: I felt as though I had been scolded. As if this woman, who knew nothing about my dog, my treatment of my dog, or my life, was openly passing doggy judgement on myself and therefore my entire household. Sure Chloe's a little pudgy. But she's not hovering on the brink of doggy fat induced death, and I think if she were dangerously mistreated, the vet would have informed us of such. And furthermore, if my dog has a bit of a happier life because she enjoys a few of the family's leftovers, then that, my dear, is our prerogative.}
"Yes." the woman agreed. "But its bad for her."
"Your mom." I responded. And promptly left.
It's one thing to nosily make a point to a perfect stranger you have been standing beside for ten seconds. It is quite another to pursue your point. This is when I did what I do best, bit my tongue to avoid the mom comment, and avoided eye contact. It certainly wasn't worth the effort as I gratefully took my receipt from the cashier and headed toward the front. Away from my newest critic.
"Dear rude lady," I suddenly wanted to yell, as I paced heatedly to the front, rehearsing the comeback I should have made. "You look like you and your husband, SGT. Pudgy there, are about one Gutherie's Chicken finger away from cistolic-plaque-induced-artery-clogging-failure. {Thanks for the vocab, Grey's Anatomy} So don't judge me OR my dog. And furthermore, your purse with your dogs painted on it would be cool, if you lived on a navajo indian reservation. You suck. At life." Yes, I took her open criticisms personally.
Yeah. That's what I should have said. I simply fail to understand why people are obsessed with giving their opinions on all things parenting related, including children AND pets.
Back off my baby names and my fat dog!
Supa Blogga Supreme Mama
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Reader Comments (10)
Winston Churchill would have replied,"Yes Madam, Chloe is fat, but you are ugly and Chloe can lose weight."
Gotta love Winston!
Wow. Ouch. I would've taken that personally too. You don't mess with someone's dog...
I always do that... act way too polite in the heat of the moment, then play "What I will say next time is..." for the next several days. But, do you know why people like you and me do that? Because we're POLITE and have social skills. It really urks me when people are rude. Sorry you've been dealing with so much of it lately!
Amen sister! Ugh, people are SO rude sometimes. It's worse when you actually know the rude people though!
I hope Emerson is loving her shoes :). They are hilarious. We put a pair on Elyn a few weeks ago and she LOVED them. They are a tad annoying, but very helpful when out in public. And halleluah for the removable squeakers!
I seriously thought you said the mom comment. I was high fiving you as I read on! Sounds like someone else should have bitten her tongue. I don't see how people have the guts to tell strangers their rude opinions.
I heart the fact that you said "your mom." That is awesome. Just when I was starting to wonder if my blog title was becoming out-of-date...thanks for keeping me relevant. ;)
haha Jess-not sure if you're relevant or just completely special like me, but your mom and dad...they NEVER go out of style. Classic. Favorite. Love it.
A line-cutter and non-solicited-advice-giver? That's just wrong.
hahaha. Ok, so this story sounded a bit familiar to something I experienced this past week. I was trying my very best to find a parking spot at a place I have a love/hate relationship with here in Nashville called Baja Burrito. As I waited patiently with my blinker on for the hipyy "I'm so cool" Vandy chicks to finish their conversation about which latte flavor is better, or what type of doctorine they were hoping to get, a crazy haired looking lady approached my vehicle, knocked on the window, and proceeded to tell me that I was holding up traffic and needed to pull over my car. Ummm, ok... how do you propose I do that, crazy lady, since there was a car literally blocking me in from every angle. And by the way, who the heck asked you? Maybe if you took as long to get ready in the morning as you do butting your face in to other people's business, you would be able to control the sad excuse you call a hairdo. I understand that I was in that area of town where the un-norm is welcomed, but you are in your fifties and if someone asked me what color your hair was, I'm not sure I could even answer them.
Whew. Ok. I feel better now. In fact, I believe I may copy and paste my little story and put it on my own blog...
Ok, we're all discussing this lady's rudeness, which is obvious. But what about the fact that she's just wrong? Chloe isn't even fat! She is a big dog, but she's not fat. Does that woman think she's a veterinarian? How would she even know? BOOOOOO, rude lady. BOOOOOO.
{Yes, I just got defensive for your dog. :-) }