I live with my mother in her husband’s house, and sometimes she works from home. Today was one of those days. She was on a call with one of her clients a few minutes ago, and I know we all had to be quiet while she was working, to create the illusion of an office.
One of my dogs looked me in the eye and started to whine.
I didn’t know how to quiet her down, so I did the only thing I could do- handed her my plastic cup full of water. Maybe she would drink it and settle down?
The phone call was still happening, and my distraction wasn’t long enough for a hyperactive 3-year-old dog. Desperate, I put the cup down on the floor. She seemed to like that- in fact, it must’ve been what she was waiting for. She took the cup by the rim in her floppy boxer-jaws and carried it over to the couch.
No, not there! Not there, dog!
She didn’t know what to do with it now, so she let it go. The cup fell a few feet, landed face down, the water pooling on the hardwood floor.
I looked over at my mother in the next room and couldn’t stop giggling. As I brought some paper towels over, our greyhound was so happy that I was happy, wagging her tail excitedly. She licked my face as I laughed harder, mopping up the water before it leaked into the underbelly of the couch.
My dogs might not always do what I want them to do, but without that, life would be far less entertaining.
