Canine Antics

I feel compelled to share a sweet little story with you. Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I just absolutely adore my dogs (or as is the current situation, dog - singular). My dog is my life. She is my child. She is a living being who depends on me for food, love, shelter, care, and tummy rubs. Her name is Emma, and she brings such exquisite joy to my life.

A couple weeks ago I walked by our patio door to see something odd laying out in our back yard. I walked up to this object. It was yellow. It was my asthma inhaler! And the cap was sitting next to it on the ground. It wasn't damaged at all, just laying there, all by itself. I immediately knew who the culprit was. It had to have been Emma, so my husband and I had a little chuckle over that.

Today, taking a break from a tediously long morning of work (yes, three hours felt like an entire day already), I was ready for lunch. As I walked downstairs, I noticed some items on our coffee table were askew. My camera had been knocked onto the floor. A book I am reading was on the floor as well. Things were just a bit messed up on the table. As I walked past the patio door again, I saw another curious object outside, in pretty much the same spot as my inhaler was just a couple weeks before. I walked over to this object, and found it was a CD, still in its little envelope. It hadn't been damaged at all. Not a scratch or a tear or a smudge on it. Emma had carried outside yet another item of mine!

Did she do this because she wanted to have something of mine near her when she spends time out there? Or, is it because maybe I'm not spending enough time with my baby girl. I don't know. But when she came downstairs about a minute after I did today, she was practically smiling. She knows she's a rascal... she just wanted to see if I knew it too!

If you are lucky and blessed enough to have an animal in your lives as a beloved pet, you know that they do not expect much from humans, other than the basic needs. Yet they give us so much more – acceptance, unconditional love, and endless amusement. I took these little antics of hers as a personal message to spend a little bit more quality time with her.

Emma makes me smile more honestly than anyone I know, and she fills my heart with such love. Needless to say, she got a little extra attention from me today... and I think this weekend, we’ll have bagels at Einstein’s, and she’ll enjoy her very own doggy bagel!