Thanksgiving is more than a week behind us now, but this is something that we just need to post about! Better late than never.

We had a big Thanksgiving feast at our house last Saturday (Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday here in Germany, so people have to work) with 10 people – 8 adults and 2 children….one Newfie. The guest list was comprised of long time friends of ours and a couple we met through a mutual friend years ago but just recently got to know better, and their children – 2 and 5 years old. They had been to the farm before and knew Ayla, although then it was in a bigger setting of our housewarming party in August. Other then that, mostly we had seen them at their house and never with the dog.

Their arrival already started with chaos. Ayla is a big girl and she got a little bit too close to the oldest child… he tripped, knocking over Ayla’s Newfie size water bowl stand. The dog loves children and as long they are running around her, she will act like a maniac with them. This was too much with all the Thanksgiving food around and tons of people in our open dining room/kitchen. So Ayla was banished into the entry hall behind her doggie gate. But as soon as she was in there, the kids wanted to be there too. And when they came back, the doors didn’t get closed behind them and of course Ayla came along.

This game continued in a variety of places; the courtyard, the den, the hallway, the mudroom. Always the same game. The mother got increasingly agitated by the dog but not her children who were all over the place. Ayla was, of course, glued to the children running around like monkeys on mescaline, happily licking their hands and faces.

Finally it was too much for the mom and she screamed out “Get that dog away from my children”. The room froze, Ayla looked shocked and I, as the non-fur mommy, was a bit offended. I had constantly moved the dog from one location to the next (aside from cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people) and her children always brought her back. I am not sure why you can’t make non-dog people understand if their children stop running around the dog will stop chasing them. But they just never get it.

Thankfully hubby had two of our close friends sitting across from him when we sat down for dinner that can really calm him by just looking at him and rolling their eyes. He was ready to burst. The woman was still complaining a bit about the dog at that point when the greatest thing happened. Not 10 seconds after we all sat down to eat, Ayla flopped herself down near the table and went to sleep. Hubby just said “See, this is what happens when you stop running – the dog stops following. This is what we where trying to tell you”. If looks could kill, Stefan would have been a dead man.

Following dinner Ayla was way to exhausted from the pre-dinner exercise and left the kids to their own devices. Interestingly enough, these kids had some fun games in store: Squash and pumpkin throwing inside the house, hitting people and objects with a wooden meat pounder, and a sort of dance contest on our glass coffee table – all without a word from the parents. I think everyone at that table took more effort in finding something for the kids to do and focusing the kids energy on something else, than the parents.

In the end, Ayla was a perfect girl all night – no trying to steal food (she was snuck enough turkey meat, sweet potatoes, carrots etc for two Newfies after dinner), barking or acting like a crazy loon- more than can be said for the kids.

We don’t have any children yet, but we learned a lot from that night for when the time comes. A lesson for now though – pick your friends wisely. If they can’t stand your best friend then they are not worth hanging out with. This wild bunch definitely won’t need to be offended by Ayla any more, they won’t be invited back.