Buddy's Evil Twin

Having a puppy is most similar in practice to having a newborn. Like human babies, puppies are supposed to be relatively confined early on in their lives- babies stay in a crib, puppies stay in a pen. Neither one should be wandering around of said areas without you watching them every second.

So when Buddy started to wander around our living room we were, needless to say, anxious. We had puppy-proofed the area as well as we could but he was constantly surprising us with things that he could still find to chew on. And we were constantly surprised with the number of things that frightened him. Like our entertainment system.

It’s got these nice-looking doors with the glass cover- you know the kind, so you can see the stereo and whatnot inside without having it sitting right out in the open. And those glass panels are, like most glass surfaces, reflective. And so it was that Buddy discovered another version of him looking back at him one day- and freaked out.

We were alerted to the situation when Buddy’s loud bark erupted and echoed through the room. He was standing in that aggressive way dogs do- front shoulders down, lips curled, ears perked up. And he was barking like crazy.

“What’s the matter, Bud?” I asked. He just kept on barking.

We got down on the floor next to him to inspect and that’s when we saw it- his reflection. As we realized what was going on we both burst out looking. Buddy got a terribly injured look on his face- as if we were somehow making light of the terribly mean dog barking at him.

“Oh- is that mean dog scaring you?” we asked in condescending tones (because we’re both sort-of mean like that).

A bark from him confirmed that yes, that mean dog barking at him was very frightening and he would very much like for to go away. We gave him one of his treats to distract him and thankfully, because he has the attention span of a gnat, he forgot all about it.

But every now and again that mean little dog comes back, looks at Buddy, and starts barking at him. I anticipate they will have quite a rivalry over the years.