Recently a friend of mine brought a new puppy to stay at my house for a few days.  The dog was a white fluff ball, some kind of American Eskimo or something.  I already have a 4lb teacup Chihuahua very appropriately named “Princess”.  Princess does NOT like dogs but she loves cats.
When the new puppy arrived Princess immediately came into the room.  You could see by her reaction that she was not at all happy about this dog being in HER house.  She looked at the dog, barked, and quickly  left the room in what I am sure was a doggie huff.  About an hour later I realized I hadn’t seen Princess and began to search the house for her (she is a Princess remember-she refuses to stoop to the commoner level of coming when you call her).  FINALLY I found her.  Apparently she had went into my room where her bed and all of her toys are.  She immediately collected ALL of her toys (even ones she has never played with) and she hid them all in the back corner of my closet!  I couldn’t believe it.  How smart was she.  And talk about setting your boundaries.  She was not about to let some “dog” touch her stuff.

Later that night I could help but think about the significance of the entire experience.  I couldn’t help but think how I wished I could be more like Princess.  Upon meeting a “new” person she IMMEDIATELY set her boundaries (clearly stating that her toys were off limits).  She didn’t worry if the new dog would like her.  She didn’t worry what others would think of her hiding her toys.  She simply did what felt right to her.  She set her boundaries and let me tell you she stuck to them.

The new puppy was with us for only a couple of days but let me tell you Princess was ontop of the situation every second.  If that puppy even went near her stash of toys Princess immediately reminded him of the boundaries she had set.

I wonder how many of us CLEARLY set our boundaries without worrying what everyone else thinks.  I wonder how many of us STICK to those boundaries and have no problem alerting those who step over them.  Hopefully the next time you need to set some boundaries you will remember the story of Princess and the white fluff ball:)