Children's mother invites herself into home

[mistoffolees]

Ha! For me too. While stealth is probably right, I suppose I ascribe to the "OR maybe the stranger is an axe murderer we haven't met yet" like of thought.

Or a Jehovah's Witness...

 

[stealth2]

LOL You are all too silly!

 

[Ohiogal]

LOL You are all too silly!

Good grief. My ten year old subscribes to this. Hence why she dragged an appeals court judge over to meet me when we went to a party and when the JUDGE tried to tell her she shouldn't talk to strangers, she said, "How am I supposed to make new friends then? Strangers are just people I haven't met yet and I need to make new friends. You HAVE to meet my mom anyway."

 

[stealth2]

NO!!! I mean y'all are too silly to think I actually do this!

 

[LdiJ]

Or a Jehovah's Witness...

Oh lord...LOL.

I have to tell this story. I once knew a non-custodial father who was dealing with a custodial mother who became a Jehovah's Witness after she remarried. This wasn't on the internet, it was out in the real world.

One of the things that frustrated the father to no end was that Jehovah's witnesses did not celebrate birthdays, and did not celebrate Christmas. Every present he gave his children for either Christmas or their birthday was taken away from them unless he kept it at his house.

So, shortly after that a Jehovah's Witness couple came to my home, and for some ridiculous impulse I decided to talk to them. I first expressed my extreme dissatisfaction about the fact that the particular mom took Christmas presents from the other parent away from her children...so their explanation for that was that 12/25 was not actually Christ's birthday. I then asked them when WAS Christ's birthday, they reluctantly said they didn't know. The I said that if you don't know when it is, and neither does anybody else, then why can't it be celebrated on 12/25? Well then they said that they don't celebrate birthdays, and I responded with why the heck not? Where in the heck in the bible does it say that its a sin to celebrate birthdays...and they couldn't answer me.

I asked them were their children EVER allowed to receive presents, and they said of course our children get presents all the time. I asked what occasions their children got presents, and they couldn't give me any other than impulse moments dictated by the parents. By the time we got done they were so danged confused they didn't know what to say to me.

I was sooo proud of myself...temporarily.

The end result...that same couple showed up at my house once a week for the next six months trying to argue their faith with me. I kept telling them that my opinions were not a matter of faith, that they were simply a matter of why the heck couldn't children receive presents to celebrate either their birthday or the birthday of ANY biblical or public figure...where in the heck did the bible say that was a sin to celebrate birthdays? We also got into whether or not it was a sin to celebrate secular holidays...and that one seriously stumped them.

Anyway the end result was that I had to threaten to get a restraining order against them if they didn't stop coming back to my house...so they finally stopped.

 

[CJane]

NO!!! I mean y'all are too silly to think I actually do this!

See! I thought "Gawd, that doesn't really SOUND like Stealth." LOL

Ldi - I had a similar issue once upon a time. I finally lost enough of my inherent politeness to refuse to corral the german shepherd when they pulled in the driveway.

And now, I have a mastiff. And a gate that locks. And I don't answer my front door. Ever.

 

[LdiJ]

See! I thought "Gawd, that doesn't really SOUND like Stealth." LOL

Ldi - I had a similar issue once upon a time. I finally lost enough of my inherent politeness to refuse to corral the german shepherd when they pulled in the driveway.

And now, I have a mastiff. And a gate that locks. And I don't answer my front door. Ever.

A Mastiff? As in one of those giant dogs Mastiff? How big is yours?

 

[CJane]

A Mastiff? As in one of those giant dogs Mastiff? How big is yours?

He's an American Mastiff, so won't be quite as big as the English Mastiffs you're picturing. The vet thinks he'll top out around 160lbs. And he's less drooly than his English cousins.

Right now, he's 10 months old and 75 lbs. However, in the past month, he's grown enough to go from the smallest setting on his collar to the largest. He can fit my other dog's entire head in his mouth. LOL the other dog is a collie/shepherd cross.

 

[Artemis_ofthe_Hunt]

He's an American Mastiff, so won't be quite as big as the English Mastiffs you're picturing. The vet thinks he'll top out around 160lbs. And he's less drooly than his English cousins.

Right now, he's 10 months old and 75 lbs. However, in the past month, he's grown enough to go from the smallest setting on his collar to the largest. He can fit my other dog's entire head in his mouth. LOL the other dog is a collie/shepherd cross.

Wait... Austrailian Shepherd/ Border Collie cross?

 

[CJane]

Wait... Austrailian Shepherd/ Border Collie cross?

Dear God no. Do you think that cross would even survive puppyhood? They'd be so hyper, I'd picture them just going POP!

Finnegan is a collie (real collie) / GERMAN shepherd cross. 65lbs of happy go lucky yet lazy hair.

 

[Artemis_ofthe_Hunt]

Dear God no. Do you think that cross would even survive puppyhood? They'd be so hyper, I'd picture them just going POP!

Finnegan is a collie (real collie) / GERMAN shepherd cross. 65lbs of happy go lucky yet lazy hair.

Well survive he did... my Bear, that is. He's pretty high energy, but he doesn't just POP with it, LOL! Even at 7 he still corrals and sorts the same way he did when he was two.

 

[CJane]

Well survive he did... my Bear, that is. He's pretty high energy, but he doesn't just POP with it, LOL! Even at 7 he still corrals and sorts the same way he did when he was two.

I had a border collie before Twain was born. She was 4, and still so insane she couldn't be in the house when any of the kids were home. She'd just do laps. Hallway to the back of the couch to the chair to my bed to the kitchen to the hallway to the back of the couch...

I can't imagine tossing an aussie in with that! lol

I love that Finnegan and Beauregard can go out in the yard and run off their energy and then come in, crash on the couch, and be out for 6 hours.

 

[Artemis_ofthe_Hunt]

I had a border collie before Twain was born. She was 4, and still so insane she couldn't be in the house when any of the kids were home. She'd just do laps. Hallway to the back of the couch to the chair to my bed to the kitchen to the hallway to the back of the couch...

I can't imagine tossing an aussie in with that! lol

I love that Finnegan and Beauregard can go out in the yard and run off their energy and then come in, crash on the couch, and be out for 6 hours.

Issue with herding dogs is that they are easily bored. That manifests itself as behavioral ticks, so to speak. She just needed a job and a purpose. The Border collie breeder I spoke with when I started Bears training said that he wouldn't touch a border pup for the first two years. I got a lot of conflicting advice, but the one piece of advice that I've received time and again is that dogs that are bred for a specific purpose (shepherds, collies, labs, etc) need to have that drive fulfilled. They need constant challenges.

 

[CJane]

Issue with herding dogs is that they are easily bored. That manifests itself as behavioral ticks, so to speak. She just needed a job and a purpose. The Border collie breeder I spoke with when I started Bears training said that he wouldn't touch a border pup for the first two years. I got a lot of conflicting advice, but the one piece of advice that I've received time and again is that dogs that are bred for a specific purpose (shepherds, collies, labs, etc) need to have that drive fulfilled. They need constant challenges.

Oh, I know that's true. It's true of kids too, by the way.

Sadie was a really good dog before I got pregnant. When I could take her on a run every day, spend lots of offleash time letting her herd the cats and kids, etc, she was awesome. When I was too pregnant to do those things, and the kids too small to effectively be alpha with her, she lost her mind. She went to live on a farm though, and last time I followed up, was doing quite well.

I'm confining myself to dogs like Beauregard in the future. His job is to be protective of the kids and the yard, and otherwise sleep (and fart). And chew. Obsessively. But I'm guessing he'll outgrow/learn to confine that particular drive.

 

[LdiJ]

Issue with herding dogs is that they are easily bored. That manifests itself as behavioral ticks, so to speak. She just needed a job and a purpose. The Border collie breeder I spoke with when I started Bears training said that he wouldn't touch a border pup for the first two years. I got a lot of conflicting advice, but the one piece of advice that I've received time and again is that dogs that are bred for a specific purpose (shepherds, collies, labs, etc) need to have that drive fulfilled. They need constant challenges.

I guess that explains why Mikey the wonderdog (the yellow lab I used to have) could open deadbolts, car doors from the inside and outside, could slip any collar or harness anybody put on him, and never met a convenience store hot dog rack he couldn't get at.

He also single handedly populated my entire subdivision with yellow lab mixes.