“What a cute dog! What is she?”
As anyone who follows me on Facebook or Instagram knows, our family recently got a new puppy. And while I knew that in many ways, having a new dog in the house would be kind of like having another new baby – the sleepless nights, cleaning up various messes– there was one thing I wasn’t prepared for. Just like when I had my babies, I walk around the neighborhood every day, sometimes morning, noon, and night. And I quickly learned that random strangers often have similar reactions to a floppy puppy as they do to a baby in a stroller.
With her big brown eyes, slender body, and red brindle coat (her fur looks like Tiger stripes), Amber attracts a lot of attention. Toddlers run up to “pat the doggy” and tough-looking men give me the silent nod of approval.
The conversation usually goes like this:
“She’s adorable!”
“Thanks, we just adopted her.”
“What is she?”
“We don’t exactly know, but we think she’s part Whippet or Italian Greyhound, mixed with something else. She came from the animal shelter.”
At that point, the conversation can go one of two ways…
“Thank you for saving a life,” they gush, as if I were the Angelina Jolie of the canine kingdom.
Or the inquisition begins…
Read the rest of Did You Just Compare My Mixed-Race Kids to a Mutt? over at Mom.me
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