Thursday, February 16, 2012

Frustration: Short Lived

This afternoon, Bella and I enjoyed our walk together which has become customary during the week. It was raining most of the morning, but had tapered off by the time I returned home. I was unsure whether the weather would stay away or if we would get caught in a downpour, so we walked quickly and returned home a little sooner than expected. She wanted to take a longer walk, as I practically had to drag her the last half. To make it up to her, I stayed home an extra fifteen minutes and let her run around the basement to burn off some excess energy.

I haven't quite figured out how to truly play fetch with her. I'll toss the ball across the room and she'll run after it, pick it up and run back to my general area. Most of the time she will not return immediately to me or drop the ball. It's something I have to work on. She is able to burn her own energy by herself, which she seemed to be doing this afternoon. I decided to turn on the t.v. and check out SportsCenter and let her run around. She seemed to be doing fine, but as soon as my focus lingered on the television for too long the puppy in her took over. She was gnawing at the tag to the futon mattress we have on the floor. That's the tag that reads, "Do not remove under penalty of law." I've noticed that for whatever reason, Bella loves this tag. I tell her to stop with the tag already and give her a toy to occupy her time. Back to the television my eyes go and before I know it, she's gone under the table of which I am perched on top. For whatever reason, I look under the table and see that tag hanging out of her mouth. At least it was her that removed it and not me. Not gonna lie, I'm a little bit frustrated as I remove the illegal tag from her mouth.

Back to the boob tube I go. Not five seconds later, I look over and Bella is trying to eat the leaves of the lavender plant that Chassie has on the table in the basement. For some reason, I think that at one point Chassie mentioned that lavender is poisonous to dogs. In one motion, I dive across the room, landing on the futon and scaring Bella away from the plant. I imagine it was ungraceful, to say the least, but it accomplished what it was meant to. Frustration level has increased.

I pick myself up and return to the table I had been sitting on. There's nothing to entertain me on SportsCenter and daytime television hasn't been fun since I was a kid and stayed home sick from school. I should probably get back to work anyway and then Bella does her "tuck tail and run" and hides behind the exercise bike and her old crate. I slowly meander over and notice that she's got something in her mouth again.That was the last straw for whatever reason. Luckily, she responds very well to food and as soon as I took the treats out, she was waiting patiently by my feet. I put her back in her crate and headed back to work.

I'm not one to dwell on the past and quite honestly I wasn't even thinking about our episode earlier in the day as I drove home. As I opened the door, I saw her sitting in the hallway, not jumping on the baby gate like she does almost every day I return from work. She sat patiently and waited until I walked up to her and pet her before she stood up and her tail told me she held no ill will from earlier today. So this is why they say dog is man's best friend.

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