Eva had an unfortunate exchange with those neighbors

[conuly]

Where they called Finn "Cocoa" and then were snotty that "he's forgotten his name" because he didn't respond.

So. Uh. First of all, I have to start seriously documenting this stuff, because of all the things wrong with that conversation I think the most salient part is the fact that it even happened.

But secondly, there is a reason that Finn has been taught to sit and to come using hand signals.

That reason is that he is particularly bad at parsing human speech. I don't know if this is because he's somewhat deaf or because he's got some sort of canine auditory processing disorder, but it only took us a few weeks to figure this out. The way I see it, in their little self-imposed game of "who's the better dog owner" we're now up to approximately 100,000 : nil.

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Comments

[batwrangler]

Finn could also EASILY be snubbing them specifically. Sorry you have such horrible neighbors.

[conuly]

If he legit didn't respond, that's entirely possible. Usually he's all too eager to go up to random people on the street, secure in the knowledge that the entire world is his friend and that what everybody really needs, right at this moment, is a toy poodle to pet.

[rhoda_rants]

Who the hell is mean to dogs??? That makes NO sense. Ugh.

[conuly]

And to this dog? He's such a friendly guy! (And he's a toy poodle, so there was exactly zero reason for him to be underweight when we adopted him from the shelter. 6 pounds, and he's supposed to be 8. We had to adopt him on a waiver because he didn't weigh enough for his operation - which, as he had one internal testicle, was actually more important than usual!)

[greghousesgf]

I used to be a vet's assistant and I can tell you right now it's not a good idea to pull cows' tails.
I was in junior high in the 70s and "ball buster" meant the exact same thing then that it does now. (we also used to make dirty jokes about that doll that went through puberty)
I know Rerun from What's Happening when I see him.

[conuly]

Yeah, but folks at Mental Floss are a bit younger than you and probably imagine it as a cleaner, more innocent age.

[greghousesgf]

hahaha they're way off

[dragovianknight]

I had both a Growing Up Skipper and an Ice Bird as a wee dragon. Pretty sure I had Milky, too; it looks familiar, but I don't recall it with the certainty of the other two.

Ice Bird was a pain in the ass and eventually I just started stuffing the ice block in a plastic bag and hitting it with a hammer until it made little ice chunks rather than using the bird. >_>

[conuly]

Good exercise, though.

[konsectatrix]

Hahaha I remember some of these commercials-- Baby Laughs a Lot, Milky, and Growing Up Skipper (I think they ran commercials for much longer back then than they do now, too. Some of those ran for YEARS). I never owned any of them though, I was really into trucks as a baby, apparently?

I had a discussion about the Alien toy at one point, and it made a mention into one of my stories, because I could not for the life of me figure out who they were marketing to--none of the kids in that age bracket could have seen the movie (it's not like they could catch it on cable or rent it, and it was an R-rated flick).

I had that same dissonance when the original Robocop toys and cartoon came out. I mean, trust me I was THERE for those, but teens and young adults buying toys was still something that got you made fun of--at least in that case, there WAS a cartoon for the 8-11 yr olds they were going for, but it was very short-lived.

[conuly]

Sometimes kids get into this or that through pop cultural osmosis.

[smokingboot]

They sound like twats. Finn doesn't owe them his attention.

[conuly]

I just wish they'd move away or something. Preferably to an apartment that doesn't allow pets.

[smokingboot]

I take it their replacement dog returned?

It might be worth discussing boundaries re Finn, but it sounds as though he's setting them straight already.

They sound like seriously crummy people. Time to leave voodoo dolls pinned to their front door.

[conuly]

Until we found Finn, the first time, I'd never seen these people. And frankly, I feel I've seen them entirely too much ever since. I avoid them as much as possible. If it comes to the point of setting boundaries, I'm going to do that with the help of either the cops or, at the very least, a big and scary friend. (I don't have any of those.) I am not discussing shit with them if I don't have to.

[smokingboot]

From what you say, in lieu of big scary friends, the polic sound like the best resource. But I hope it doesn't come to that, and that these people just leave you the hell alone.

[bubblesbrnaid]

Oh, my God, I was *not* delusional, there *was* a toy cow that you milked!

My great-grandparents had one of those, or somebody brought it to show off, and I have clear but old memories of a gaggle of adults giggling over it--maybe it was a prank Christmas or birthday gift or something (they kept a couple of dairy cows back then). I was beginning to think I had imagined the whole damn thing!

[conuly]

Nope! Aren't you glad for the internet?