It was Tuesday, and that usually means history co-op. A 100 Dogs bonus about history co-op is that the hostess, Josie (see her blog at Mother Bear Naturals) has four dogs! There was a strong possibility we would be getting some work done on this project along with the cheese-making project she had planned for the kids.
Two things I have learned about history co-op:
1. TyTy will burn off energy there.
2. We will get no school work done afterwards.
For these reasons I usually have his nose to the grindstone on Tuesday mornings. But today TyTy was fairly vibrating in his seat with the inexplicable energy of a 7 year old so I decided a walk was in order. And since we are homeschoolers, this was no mere walk. This was a data-gathering walk for TyTy's chart making lesson later this week. We set out, clipboard in hand, to tally up the different kinds of mailboxes on the block.
Halfway down the block we encountered a new dog. Her owner was a white-haired lady who was at first confused by our request to pet her dog; she thought we were asking for money. To be fair, usually people walking around a neighborhood with a clipboard are indeed asking for money. I repeated my request to pet the dog and she very willingly stopped her walk to oblige us. OK, so TyTy had now officially met another dog, right? But getting to pet it is only half the battle. We still have to document the meeting, and this is where I started to get nervous. This was only Dog #2; since the first dog's owner was absent we had just snapped a picture and gone on our way. Now we would have to get permission to take the picture and explain why we wanted the picture in the first place.
This may not seem like a big deal, but I have always been a weirdo and therefore always had a sense of being an outsider. After 15 years in Portland, possibly one of the weirdest cities in America, I still never had a strong sense of belonging. I do feel I belong in my group of homeschoolers; the only time in my life I have ever felt as much a part of a group is when I was playing in the orchestra in high school.
But homeschooling itself is an alternative lifestyle, and even in Portland homeschoolers were thought of as a category of Extreme Parenting. Even though I feel at home and accepted by my peers, I still have to endure the raised eyebrows of strangers, neighbors, even relatives at times, and I can't get over the discomfort I always have at those moments. But what else could I do? One thing is for sure, a weird truth is easier than a mundane lie. As Mark Twain famously said, "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." I took a deep breath and launched into what I sensed would become my 100 Dogs spiel.
"Hi, we live in the neighborhood. We homeschool, and my son is working on a project in which he meets 100 dogs. Can I please take a picture of him with your dog for his 100 Dogs journal?"
Seeing it now, written in black and white, I wonder why I would ever be nervous about such a thing. It's not like I'm asking her for a lock of hair or her credit card numbers. And of course, despite my fears, this nice lady did not see anything weird about my request.
"Missy! SIT!!"
That was her immediate response, and Missy sat. My phone camera is slow so the picture shows Missy after she had stood up again. Missy's owner proceeded to tell us all about her. She is 12 and has some health problems for which she takes prescription medications. It seems her pituitary gland mistakenly tells her adrenal glands to pump out excess cortisol, which is a problem not uncommon in dogs, horses, and also humans. After a brief explanation, the lady told me sheepishly that she normally wouldn't talk about such things so much except that since we homeschool, we might want the extra information. So, in addition to whatever journaling and writing practice TyTy gets, thanks to Missy's owner, he also now gets a small science lesson.
We may not always get such positive reactions and interactions as we continue to introduce ourselves to dogs and their owners, but maybe that will be another lesson for TyTy, one in learning how to interact with strangers. And their dogs.
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