The Pecking Order

My puppy boy is sick; he has a urinary tract infection.  A number of months back, my puppy girl had a series of them.  When puppy girl was sick, puppy boy was all over her.  He circled her when she was lying down.  He licked her face (and other assorted body parts).  He was a nervous wreck the whole time she was sick.  He almost worried himself sick.  Now that he is sick......she ignores him, except to expect he continue to pay homage to her.  She is a most unsympathetic hussy.  The puppy pecking order is that she is alpha, and he is her slave.  That's how it's always been and always will be.  The pack dynamic changes for nothing.  Puppy boy doesn't expect puppy girl to treat him any differently, no matter the situation; puppy girl doesn't disappoint.
Wouldn't it be great if human relationships were like my pups'?  We'd certainly have less business here in the Trenches.  I don't know about you, but in most households, everybody has their role.  There's usually one person who's the caretaker.  That person makes sure everyone else has what they need.  What happens when that person becomes really chronically ill?  Loses a job and can't find another?  Do the other members of the household change roles with them?  Maybe.  Does that person expect it?  Maybe.  What if the dynamic doesn't change?   Well, the usual caretaker resents the heck out of having to drag themselves around and make sure everyone else is OK when they're not.  What if it does change?  Well, after a while the new caretakers resent it, because not only are they not being cared for, they have to do the caretaking.  The role reversal takes a toll on the relationship, and sometimes the toll is fatal.  Human beings aren't like my pups.  Sure, like the pups, we have our expected roles.  Unlike them, however, our relationships with each other are fluid and are expected to change with the situation.  Just like the pups, however, humans and their expectations of others don't really change.  Too bad situations do.  That's why huge life changes mean more clients here in the Trenches.