Zayne and his bodyguards

Bundle of energy, that's Zayne M

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

My six-year-old ward Zayne Mojica always plays with two dogs in their home. The dogs are Jersey, a Yorkshire terrier and Bella, a Maltipoo. Both are adorable pets of Madison, Zayne's little aunt.

The two dogs are Zayne's friends. When he was three years old, every time I put him on his high chair during mealtimes, the dogs position themselves nearby like bodyguards. The dogs look at Zayne on his high chair as he happily munches away. 

I’ve always reminded Zayne to eat or he can't play. He would three pieces of cookies, four pieces of turkey, and three slices of cheese and grapes or baby carrots. 

A Yorkshire terrier (Wikipedia photo)

At breakfast, he eats oatmeal but at six, he's outgrown his tolerance (?) of oatmeal. Besides, it takes too much talking or cajoling him about eating oatmeal.  

I want him to eat because when he's hungry he is cranky. Zayne is a picky eater. But my husband Ronnie told me not to force a baby because when he or she is hungry he or she asks for food. Ronnie is right. 

There are times Zayne doesn’t feel like eating at all.  Then I come with a plan and tell him “I race with you when you eat the food.” Many times he ate all the food and I was glad. Awesome. 

It went on like that for a while. The Nanay (mother) in me was so happy that at least he was eating already. Then I made an accidental discovery. 

Friends
When Zayne usually eats, that's the time when I am free to either use the potty, check my Amazon Kindle tablet or do some light housework. In short there are times I don’t see him actually eating.

One day I surprised him by just appearing on the living room and that's where I saw Zayne down at the side feeding his “bodyguards” Jersey and Bella. That's when he saw me looking at him.

A Maltipoo breed (Wikipedia photo)

I pretended I didn't see his busy hands. So that was why he didn't complain everytime I told him to eat. I waited for the right time to tell him about this and when I had it, I reminded Zayne never to feed his dogs because they have their own food.

But he answered “Bella and Jersey are friends, Nanay.” What can I say?  It is really a love and hate relationship between Zayne and the dogs. He plays with the dogs, running with them and hugging Bella. 

I usually get worried whenever he does that because Zayne would often grab Bella's neck and squeeze it, nearly choking the dog. 

There would also be times when he would throw things at Jersey and Bella and I would shout to the two dogs “Run for your lives, Jersey and Bella!.”

If he hits one of the dogs and it's usually Jersey, the dogs would respond by trying to scratch and bite him, which would scare Zayne away and make him scream “I don't like you anymore.”

Behavior
There was a time that I got scared because Zayne would imitate the behavior of the dogs. He would put milk on the floor or on the carpet and join the two dogs as they lick the milk on the floor. 

When the dogs bark, Zayne would mimic their barking. He gets frustrated when the dogs don’t respond and so tells them to sit or go away. I think the dogs know when Zayne is okay or not towards them, they simply leave.

I couldn't teach Zayne how to handle the dogs because I am no dog expert. I am scared of dogs. In fact through Zayne, I learned to like the dogs. 

Until now I am studying how to communicate with dogs for Zayne's sake so I can better handle him and them together. One thing I'm sure, Zayne loves the dogs.

Thanks to him, I also learned to overcome my fear and like the dogs. Next time I'll share with you how  Zayne loves Peter Rabbit and Team Omizumi. Before I end this, I want you to know he loves eating my cooked rice Filipino style.

HAVING A BALL. Zayne trying his hand at bowling.