I never forgave my mother for many things. Some were irrational, like being young and social while she was supposed to be a mum and nothing else, some were deep and shameful, others were all too common in the Hungarian countryside of my childhood.

Like how dogs were treated.

I had a black dog when I was a kid, small, wiry hair, not unlike my Mia. But Csucsu (pronounced as tshu-tshu) wasn’t as lucky as her.

He lived outside, in the cold, he was not allowed in the house, and he was never taught to think for himself.

But I loved him with all my heart. I sneaked out to sleep with him in his doghouse, I took him to walks and he never left my side, I shared my food with him, and whispered all my secrets that were heavier than any six-year-old should ever have.

He was a good dog but he liked chicken. He hunted chicken, both ours and neighbour’s. And after he caught too many, he had to go. So my grandpa sat in his car, took my Csucsu, drove deep into the forest, and let him go.

Then they told me he ran away.

I knew they lied. And when I tired her out with my questions, mum admitted it.

“He was a bad dog!” she said.

I marched out, and sat on the stairs all day, didn’t speak a word to her for many days.

And when I did, I didn’t forgive.

So when I brought Mia home, and mum was nice to her, and spoke baby-language to her, I knew she was faking it. And so did Mia.

I was so proud to see my new dog moving away from my mother’s touch. I saw the distrust, and I understood. When my mum came into my room, Mia growled. Twice, she barked at her. We only spent 3 days there before we moved to our apartment but I think disliking my mum brought us closer together.

Mia knew immediately that my mum wasn’t honest. That mother didn’t really care for her, didn’t think she was important, that she had her own likes and fears.

To this day, their relationship is bumpy. Not as much as our tainted history, but Mia sees through her. And that can be hard on people.

Our friendly AI is rather cool about this:

People may fake liking something for a variety of reasons. It could be because they don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, or because they don’t want to have a confrontation. It could also be that they feel a sense of obligation or are trying to please someone else.

If you’re feeling frustrated about this situation with your mother, it might be helpful to have an open and honest conversation with her. Ask her how she truly feels about your dog and why she may be acting differently. It’s important to communicate openly and authentically with loved ones in order to maintain healthy relationships.

I can promise you, we’d have a whole list of issues to “have an open and honest conversation” about before we’d cover this… so here’s to bury this among them!

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This post is part of the A to Z blogging challenge of April 2023.
Topic of this year is “The AI, the dog and the witchling”, real and fictional stories partially written/inspired by Artificial Intelligence, featuring Mia and Missy.
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Today’s prompt was a little more personal than usual: My mother is faking that she likes my dog. I hate that. Why does she do that?