A while back I ordered a new vest that was intentionally for Twix but when it arrived it was better on BamBam. So I ordered another vest for Twix as well as some patches for BamBam.

For those of you who don’t know, BamBam is deaf. He doesn’t hear anything. We had him tested as a puppy, therefore I know that he is entirely deaf. He does reacts to different vibrations but not sounds. But with his deafness comes that he is afraid of a lot of things. One thing he does not like is strangers. He has no problems with other dogs, couldn’t care less about cats or squirrels. When we are out walking he is the most well behaved boy. Of course I can never have him off leash, I won’t even take that chance unless it’s an enclosed area.
But of course we meet people, and I like to talk and so does Twix. But to ease up a little for BamBam I ordered these two, bright yellow, very (according to me) self explanatory patches…

If you can read this wouldn’t be a hard message to understand, right? I know that BamBam is a beautiful big boy and thankfully he is not aggressive at all. He wouldn’t hurt a fly unless you hurt him, and probably not even then. He doesn’t run away, he is trying to hide behind me and wants me to save the day for him. He has really big trust issues. I am aware of this and I have no problem with it and I deal with it appropriately. As long as people doesn’t approach him and ignores him he is fine in crowds, he just does not want to be petted.

So we are out on our walk this morning, almost home when we catch up with a boy playing with his basketball. This boy is approximately 12-14 years old so he should be able to read and understand. He see me and the dogs and stops. Runs straight up to me. And of course Twix, whom is the happiest and most friendly dog thinks the boy is coming to play with him, but the boy goes around Twix and aims for BamBam. I am trying to hold Twix and BamBam is now trying to go behind me and on to the other side. The boy then said “I just want to pet you big boy”. *Sigh*. I then had to tell him “do you see that big yellow thing on his west? What does it say?”. What does the boy answer? “But I want to pet him”.

Don’t we educate our children at all today? Finally I had to really tell the boy to leave both my dogs alone in a tone that was not pleasant. I have no problem with them petting and playing with Twix but leave Bam alone. And don’t we teach our kids to always ask if they can pet the dog first? Not just run up to them and think that’s okay?
It all went well this time but BamBam was not happy. He could probably feel that I was pissed and he thought I was mad at him, which was far from the fact. I had some sausage left in my pocket that I could distract Twix with and we could continue our walk home. But this happens, less than a week after I added these patches on his vest… jeeeez!