Barley and the Tramp

For those who have met Barley, the title of this post may seem a bit backwards.  "Shoudn't Barley be the Tramp?" you ask?  In many respects, yes.  In one very important one, no.

As a dog lover, much of Lady and the Tramp has always made me very sad.  She ends up in the pound, cats gang up on her, and, perhaps most distressing, her human family brings home a baby and forgets all about her. 

Oh, sure, her people introduce Lady to the baby and act like nothing has changed, but that's obviously not the case.  Poor Lady just isn't as important to the family as she once was.

Throughout my pregnancy, I worried about Barley becoming another after-the-baby forgotten canine.  Since August was born, I've done by best to continue to give Barley the attention he's used to, but it's been difficult.  It didn't help that when we first brought August home, Barley was deathly afraid of him.  After about a week, Barley was just annoyed.  In recent days, Barley has finally realized that August is actually a person, though he still doesn't seem to care for him very much.

Now we're finally getting used to Barley's "Why do you now hate me?" or "I hate you now" looks and his following us around to pout while we're taking care of August.

Hopefully, my two babies will eventually grow to be friends.  I just fear it won't happen until a high chair and dropped food is involved.