How I stuck my foot in it!

In typical Sagittarian fashion, I managed to embarass my boyfriend in front of his relatively new colleagues and his boss to boot. Not embarass in the sense that I made him feel any less intelligent or that I poked fun at his new haircut or something he said. No, it was far, far worse than that. Im still kicking myself over this, however, due to the opinions of two of my friends as well as that of my mother on the seriousness of my blunder, I've allowed myself to have a little laugh about it on those occassions when I'm feeling lighthearted and have grown tired of beating myself up about it.

Boyfriend and I had been invited to the housewarming party of one of his colleagues about two weeks ago. We'd known about this party for about two weeks in advance and to be honest, I wasnt sure I even wanted to go as I wouldnt know anyone there. But since Ive been trying to make an effort to be more sociable these days, I said Id go. Ill tell you though, that what really made up my mind about going was a closer look at the invitation. The girlfriend of Boyfriend's colleage had created the cutest invitations by drawing cartoon characters of herself and her boyfriend, with their two daschunds . The fact that they have two of those pooches was what did it for me. They are my absolute favourite breed of dog, and before I go out and get myself a puppy Ive been dying to spend some time with some to get an idea of their personalities, so it was a perfect opportunity to do so at the party. I joked around with Boyfriend that I had visions of myself spending pretty much the entire evening with these little dogs, but promised him that I wouldnt be completely unsociable.

As we arrived at the house, another car pulled up and Boyfriend reversed a bit so that he could ask the other driver where we were supposed to park. As we were parking outside the complex Boyfriend said, "Thats Peter, my Sales Manager".

On entering the house I decided that I wanted to show Boyfriend that I was more confident than he would expect me to be, so I took the initiative and walked up to everyone standing in a circle outside and introduced myself and shook their hands. I was doing pretty well, and even got involved in a conversation with them.

After some time I went inside and made conversation with the hostess. She was really nice, and we started talking about her two black and tan miniature pedigree daschunds. The female is pregnant and is due in two weeks time, so I was all broody over the little dogs and thinking about the puppies to be.

Anyway, the point is that I think I was making a pretty good impression and not coming across as shy and reserved as I usually am with people I dont know.

When I went back outside I saw that Boyfriend was chatting to a colleague of his whom he'd pointed out as someone he wanted to introduce to me. I went over and Boyfriend introduced me to him and his girlfriend. His name was Kurt. Peter was also standing there in the little conversation circle. I stood there for a bit and listened to the conversation, which was about Kurt and why he's chosen to go into the motor trade.

I then remembered Boyfriend telling me about Kurt and how he's worked in the tile industry for just over a year, but that he's very interested in cars, and has decided he's going to leave the tile company (where Boyfriend works) to work for a car sales place. He was talking about how he's been walking around handing out his CVs to all the car shops all over the place.

Anyway, Kurt was saying that he thinks its time to try something different after over a year in the tile industry, but that he values what he's learnt at the company.

Now, bear in mind that there were loads of people from Boyfriend's work at that party. Loads. I kick myself every time I play this over and over in my head.

I remember standing there waiting for a little break in the conversation so that I could say something. In my mind I thought I was contributing to the conversation. I thought Kurt would appreciate the question and that his answer would be valuable for Boyfriend since he loves the motor industry too.

Anyway, so when the perfect gap presented itself, I spoke up and said something to this effect:

"So Kurt, [Boyfriend] and I were actually talking about this the other day. How did you manage to work for over a year in the tile industry if you love cars so much? I mean, [Boyfriend] is passionate about cars, and tiles arent really his kind of thing, so why did you stay so long before deciding to get into the motor industry if you love cars just as much?"

There was this sort of stunned silence while people eyeballed each other nervously, wondering if they had indeed heard me correctly. I was mortified.

Only towards the end of what I was saying did I realise the terrible blunder that I'd just made, and noticed the look on Kurt and his girlfriends' face. I couldnt even look to my right where Peter was standing. Somehow "Sales Manager" didnt correspont to the word "Boss" in my head at the time of saying what I did, and it only clicked into place when it was far too late to stop. Even if he wasnt Boyfreind's boss, it still wasnt a wise thing to say in an environment where 75 to 80% of the people at the party work with Boyfriend, or are friends of people who work there.

I remember blushing furiously. Kurt made a good recovery by saying that sales is sales, no matter what industry you're in, and he'd learnt a hell of a lot at the tile company and would use that experience in any other sales jobs he might have, etc.

I tried desperately not to meet Boyfriend's panicked eyes, but when he managed successfully to jab me with his elbow, I quickly looked up into his eyes and gave him an "I KNOW!!" look with mine.

At that moment I very much wished I could leave right there and then and go home, but there I was, blushing furiously and trying desperately to avoid anyone's disbelieving gaze. I felt miserable.

After a moment of awkwardness while I tried to think of a reason to leave the little group, I was presented with one when I realised my drink was finished. I asked Boyfriend if he wanted another drink (even though his beer was still pretty full). He refused of course, and then thre I was, off in the blink of an eye. I was gone for a long, long time. I spent a lot of the night in the house with the dogs and chatting to the hostess. Eventually later on I spoke to Peter. Not about what had had heard that I work for a firm of attorneys and asking what the name of the firm was, etc.

I did try to make amends by mentioning that Boyfriend is really quite interested in buying properties, doing them up (bringing the whole tile and other decor stuff into it), and then selling them or renting them out for more than he would have charged without it being renovated.

I think I did okay in terms of convincing Peter that Boyfriend isnt just passionate about cars, but is also interested and believes in the products he's selling. I also hoped he found me interesting and friendly and a nice person, so that his good opinion of me might help him forget the huge blunder Id made earlier that night, and also so that he might not take my mistake out on Boyfriend. I was hoping he would realise that what I think and say (even if I didnt mean to say it) is not necessary what Boyfriend thinks, or how he feels.

I honestly kick myself so hard and so often when I think about it. I felt like crying on the way home. How could I be so stupid!!?! I could have ruined Boyfriend's career, now that he finally has a job after being out of one for 2 months. Even now we dont know what consequences my stupid remark has made on where he stands with his boss.

Apparently the next day Kurt said to Boyfriend, "I cant believe [your Girlfriend] actually said that. And with Peter right there!"

Boyfriend also told me that he felt extremely awkward at work the following Monday morning, imaging that everyone must think he's a fraud, pretending to be all interested in what he's doing just so he could get the job.

I've since relayed the story to two friends of mine who think its funny and that I shouldnt beat myself up about it. My mother feels the same, although she had a huge laugh about it, her being a Sagittarian herself.

I must admit though, that laughing about it did help me feel a hell of a lot better about it. I guess I just have to accept that its just part of my nature and all. ;)

The Wiggle Waggle Walkathon presents Killer Cleo

This was an absolute disaster. Instead of a nice, enjoyable 4km walk with the boyfriend's parents dog, along with thousands of other people and their dogs, we ended up pulling out of the walk and going home. All thanks to Cleo, the horrendously socially inapt Staffordshire Bull Terrier, who attacked a large dog, and snapped at the other smaller dogs that came near her.

She was over-excited by all the dogs around her, all the different sounds and smells, and she was breathing so fast and so hard that a sharp wheezing sound came from her chest. Her eyes were wild as she tried to take it all in. Little dogs, the tiny ones, innocently came over to satisfy their natural curiosity, but were met with a lightning quick snap of Cleo's jaws. People screamed and leapt back in terror from the squeals of the unfortunate victims and stared at us as we tried to restrain her.

We went down on our haunches to keep her from launching at other dogs, as well as to keep the other curious dogs away to prevent them from getting mauled.

"Look at that dogs crazy eyes." Someone said in passing.

An old man came over to stroke her, but seemed a tad uncertain of her reaction as he stretched out his hand. I quickly reassured him that it wasnt the people we were worried about, but the other dogs. Only then did he properly let her sniff and lick his hand.

Things got worse as more and more people lined up at the starting line. Dogs were everywhere. Most of them were friendly towards each other, just having a passing sniff of the other's backside as dogs are wont to do. Why was it that every other dog got along fine, while ours wanted to rip apart ever dog she saw? It was hot, so very hot. The heat intensified with everyone crowding close at the start line. Our skin shone and sweat rolled down our backs from the combination of heat and stress.

A woman tapped me on the shoulder asking if she could see the tattoo on my lower back. I was so pre-occupied with trying to hold Cleo still and trying to calm her down that I stared blankly at her before realising what it was that she'd asked, and turning around and lifting up my T-shirt. She proclaimed it to be pretty, and I went back to the arduous task of looking after Cleo.

It seemed like we crouched like that forever, but eventually the walk started, and boyfriend was forced to carry Cleo in his arms. Being a staffie, she is not the lightest of dogs to carry around, unlike some other people who were cradling little daschunds or puppies in their arms. Up in boyfriends arms she seemed perfectly happy. Her rasping breathing settled down, and she panted and looked around with excitement. Why oh why couldnt she just be like that while on the ground, I dont know.

When a space opened up around us (probably due to the reputation Cleo was quickly aquiring), we put her down, but she pulled so hard on her lead that she ended up choking herself. She very clearly wanted to get to the dogs she could smell up ahead. It was ridiculous. She had to be carried again.

"He's carrying the one that goes after everything it sees". Said someone walking behind us.

Im being serious here, these were real, true to life comments people were making. I just cant make that up. It was clear that people in our immediate vicinity had seen or heard all about Cleo's vicious dog-eating habits. I was terrified that she would do something really bad, like attack a dog so badly that it ended up hurt, and that the owner would report us. I imagined a scene where we were publicly disqualified for bringing along a dangerous, anti-social dog on what should be a nice, peaceful mass dog-walk. We decided it was most suitable to carry Cleo instead of risk causing a scene of the likes of my imaginings.

But Boyfriend's arms inevitably grew tired. When they were at breaking point, I remarked that the whole left hand side of the road was open, and that we could possibly walk Cleo on that side. The Marshalls cycling up and down the road on their bicycles didnt think so. I know that Marshall was just trying to do his job, but I cant help but get irritated by how arrogant they can come across. I noticed it in the Big Walk I did last Sunday aswell. And Nightclub Bouncers are the same, if not worse. Give them a little bit of authority and they think they're IT.

Anyway, inevitably we were seen walking on the left hand side of the road, whereas the walk was taking place on the right so that we faced oncoming traffic. Along came the Marshall on his bicycle.

"I need you to walk on the other side of the road please, otherwise the Traffic Department wont allow us to do the walk".

It was a very reasonable request, however our dog was choosing to be highly unreasonable.

We quickly explained Cleo's behaviour around the other dogs. His solution was that we carry her. We explained that thats what we had been doing, but that she was heavy, and we couldnt be expected to carry her for all of 4km.

"Sir, that's not my problem. You need to walk on the other side of the road. You can carry her or make another plan, but you cant walk on this side".

Boyfriend was getting angry.

"My plan is to walk on this side, unless you want her attacking the other dogs!" He growled.

"Well Sir, my plan is to get you to walk on the other side of the road!" The Marshall's tone was dripping with arrogance.

"Would you mind if I just gave my arms a rest?!" Boyfriend shouted back.

Im sure people were staring, but I was too afraid to look. I imagined people sniggering amongst themselves and recounting Cleo's earlier behaviour.

I so badly wanted to shout at the Marshall, "Just pretend we're ordinary people who havent entered this friggin walk, if walking on this side is going to be such a damned problem!!!" But of course I didnt.

I hate confrontation. I really do. And its not often that I see Boyfriend losing it. But he was stressed out by Cleo's laboured breathing and the resultant yelping sounds she kept making. I know that he was thinking about Bleaux (pronounced as Blue), his previous Staffie, who seemed to have died of a heart-attack or a something similar relating to stress. Cleo's excited state, along with the fact that she was refusing to drink the water that so many other dogs had thirstily lapped up or splashed through, was a potential problem should we continue throughout the full 4kms.

With Boyfriend's angry outburst, the Marshall pedalled away, shrugging his shoulders. I had in mind that he would probably only afford us a period of grace before bothering us again.

But we made a decision before he even had the chance to return. We decided to drop out of the walk. It would be useless trying to get Cleo to get along with the other dogs. She would de-hydrate without water, and she was choking herself on her lead. We had never seen her so worked up before. Never before had we heard her struggle for breath the way she was this Sunday afternoon past.

I was disappointed. So, so disappointed. Besides thinking it would be a nice treat for Cleo, I was looking forward to having another chance to excercise, especially since Im trying to get a feel for what kind of distances I can handle. I know its not fair, but I was kind of angry at Cleo herself. She's always such a good natured dog, but somehow seeing all those thousands of dogs put her into killer mode.

So we turned around and made our way back. At the very back, however, we decided to give it another go since there would be no dogs around us, but Cleo continued to choke herself on her lead and we gave up once more. R60 and all I got out of it was a banana that I'd taken at the first watering station. At least the money went to the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) .

When we dropped Cleo off at Boyfriend's parents place, she ran straight for her water bowl. Clearly she deigned herself to be socially above the other dogs who didnt care where their water came from, or who gave it to them, and happily drank together and shook themselves dry when their owners poured water over them.

She had calmed down dramatically but was still excited, and looked happy and proud of having been taken out on what she probably thought was a big adventure. Little did she know that out of the 4kms she was supposed to complete, she maybe did half a kilometre, maybe even less. Taking that into account, she performed rather pathetically. Pa-thet-ic!! We all told her so, but she wagged her tail happily, thinking we were probably proud of her. Yeah right!!

She also missed out on the little doggy treats and food samples that apparently get handed out along the way.

One thing is for sure though, NEVER AGAIN. At least not with Killer Cleo in tow.

Hopefully our little daschund puppy will have better social decorum when it comes to meeting other dogs. Puppy training school is now a definate, I think.