What happens when friendship is not reciprocated?

As adults we have all come across situations where either we want to be friends with or someone wants to be friends with us more than we do. The friendship is not equal, we try and try and then finally just give up chalking it up to a lesson learned and move on. Sometimes it is just too much work and figure efforts are better spent elsewhere.

The last couple of days I have been watching this with Brady. He so badly wants to be Dexter's best friend. For those who do not know Dexter, he is our 95 pound lab mix dog. Dexter is a very goofy dog and for the most part has learned to deal with Brady. When Brady was first crawling I would watch him start to crawl toward Dexter and Dexter would slowly get up and move to lay somewhere else, Brady would lose attention and move onto something else.

Well that has now changed. Brady wants his best friend and cannot understand why the feelings are not mutual. I will watch Brady run (not walk) over to Dexter and do his version of petting Dexter, which Dexter and the rest of us see as slapping or grabbing hair. I try to intervene, but sometimes Brady is just too clever. I watched him slowly walk up to Dexter yesterday, pat him nicely on the nose with his left hand then do a swift blow to the nose with the truck in his right hand. Dexter just looks back at him wondering what he did to deserve the treatment. We take Dexter's collars off at night to keep it a bit quieter around the house, he loves to shake his head jingling the collars. It is very cute, but now in the mornings Brady will get the collars and walk over to "detter" and try and put them on, Brady follows him around the house with the collars until I put them on. I then have to deal with a dog who thinks it is walk time - do I ever win?

The only time that Dexter is Brady's best friend is when it comes to eating. Not a meal goes by that Dexter is not either beside or under Brady's highchair. He catches every crumb that slips off the tray. Brady has figured out how to slip his hand over the side and feed Dexter, which he thinks is a great time for both. Come to think of it, I do not think I have ever had to clean up the floor after a meal, so I guess it is a bit of a bonus for me too.

Some day I truly think Brady and Dexter will be great friends. I remember growing up with my dog Kel-lee and how special she was to us and hope that Brady has that with Dexter. Until then, I guess I will have to deal with the little growls coming out of Dexter when he has had enough and try and play peacekeeper between the two of them to have the proper balance to keep each of them happy.

Oh yes, Happy Thanksgiving - be safe.