Mood:  sad

90% of the time Lennie is the perfect boyfriend. He is caring, sweet, funny, and such an absolute joy to be around. But there is that 1%, usually when he drinks, that will cause a great deal of turmoil between us. See when he drinks he gets this “who the hell are you to tell me” attitude and it shuts down all forms of communication. It is like that little annoying kids who sticks his tongue out at you and says, “I don’t have to listen to you. You are not the boss of me.” Such an incident happened Saturday and I think both of us are having a hard time getting over it.

Saturday we met up with some friends for dinner at this little Bistro that Lennie and I discovered. We ended up ordering a couple bottles of wine of which I hardly drank because I was driving. I could tell that Lennie was feeling the effects because when he gets drunk he gets very chatty. When dinner was over I invited Maria and Todd over to meet the new puppy. When we got to the house Todd and Lennie grabbed a beer and went out onto the patio. I poured Maria and me a glass of wine and we played with the puppy. After awhile the boys came back inside and Lennie sat down on the floor to play with Potter. He set his beer down on the hardwood floor in front of the door. Potter immediately went over and knocked it over. Lennie picks up the bottle and then points out the spilled beer to Potter so that he can lick it up. I told Lennie not to let Potter drink it and to please clean it up. He said he would but he just stood there while Potter continued to lick the floor. I told him again to stop Potter but he just stood there and laughed. At that moment it hit me…he didn’t’ care about me or Potter. All he cared about was looking cool and funny in front of his friends.  I walked over and grabbed the dog and Lennie said something about me cleaning it up and started to walk away. I shouted, “No you spilled the beer. YOU clean it up.” With Marie and Todd looking on he had no option but to comply but in his eyes the damage was done. I had humiliated him in front of his friends. And maybe I did but he didn’t really leave me any other option.

When Maria and Todd left, Lennie took Potter for a walk and came back and told me he was leaving. I tried to talk to him about what happened but he wasn’t interested. He said I had humiliated him. I told him that it wasn’t my intent but that when I asked him to not let Potter drink the beer he just stood there and laughed at me. His response was that when I told him to stop he thought, “Who the hell are you to tell me…” Ahhh there it is…the little annoying boy comes out. I should have shut my mouth at that point because I knew there would be no communicating with him but I wanted to try to work this out and try to get him to understand the dangers of giving a dog alcohol. But it was pointless. He was like that little kid who has been scolded and all he wants to do it pout. He said that he would try to make sure the dog didn’t drink anymore beer and he walked out the door. We had made a deal early on in the relationship to not go to bed angry. Well that night he left and I went to bed alone and angry.

Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of Lennie cutting my grass. I got up and took Potter out and Lennie came in to greet us and to have some coffee. You could still feel the strain between us. He asked me how Potter did throughout the night and I said fine and then he said that Maria seemed to like Potter and I said she did and that we were planning a play date for him and Dempsey. Then he got up and went out to cut the grass. When he was done he packed up his stuff and headed back to his house. I didn’t hear from him until about 6PM when he called to see what time I was going to take Potter to the lake. I told him after 7. He came over and we headed out. We barely spoke during the drive or the walk.  I thought he would take the opportunity to talk, but he didn’t. We came home, he took the leash off Potter and gave me a kiss and left. So that was the second night I went to bed alone and angry.

I know that I should have brought it up and forced him to talk to me about it but I guess I just hoped he would realize that he had acted like a complete ass Saturday night. Yes I may have humiliated him but he completely disrespected me. I feel myself shutting down and I don’t know how to sop it. My disappointment is just overwhelming at the moment. Am I overreacting to this whole thing? Am I turning this into more than it actually is?

On the Potter front….

He has finally taken to the crate. I worked with him Friday night and then again on Saturday. I was cleaning at one point Saturday afternoon and Potter walked into his crate and laid down without being forced or tricked. Thanks to Molly at the SPCA for the advice. It worked like a charm and I was finally able to get a good night’s sleep.  I have ordered a DVD that is suppose to help me prepare him for the K-9 Good Citizen’s class. He is a smart puppy I am sure it wont take him long to learn the skills. I have already managed to teach him sit and down and he is even catching on to “Leave it”.