Dogs are work. No doubt about it. But my hound? I think she does certain things simply to watch how I will react. Take for example the act of bed making…
When I change sheets, Dharma gets in bed so I can’t complete the task. Once a bed is made and all the pillows are carefully placed, she jumps in to wrinkle everything up.
Of course, once she gets up, I go back in and tug around on the bedspread so it again looks freshly made. And then… yup… she’ll jump back up on that bed.
Dharma poops at 7:30 AM and doesn’t care if it’s weekend and I could sleep in. After throwing grass clumps at least 5 feet in the air, it’s then time to lie in the grass. This is a ritual. My dog manipulates me and my day.
At almost 28 years-old (4 in people years), Dharma’s perfected the ‘make human do whatever you want’ sequence of activities. And just like when you have a spoiled child, I (the parent) just smile and think about how darned cute she is.