The Dog Days of Quarantine
“Who’s a good boy?” I hear called out from above. I can recognize Mom’s gentle, soothing voice from a mile away.
I’m a good boy! I’m a good boy!
I can hear the pitter-patter of my paws on the kitchen floor, unable to contain my excitement. She tosses one of my favorite cookies down to the ground in front of me. Dang. I basically swallowed it whole. I always forget in my excitement to savor it. Maybe I can get another one.
Heh. Heh. Heh. Heh.
Nothing.
Heh. Heh. Heh. Heh.
My panted breaths are doing nothing.
Oh no! She’s walking away!
“No. No. You only get one right now. Maybe another when the kids come out for their break.”
The kids! That’s right, they should have their first break soon. They always drop food when it’s snack time! I’ve been getting a lot more sneaky treats these past few months since everyone is home all of the time.
Ooh. I hear a door. Here they come!
“Hey, Buddy! You wanna snack? You wanna snack?” Olivia asks as she runs over to the cookie jar. “You can have two. Two. Now shake.”
Two for a shake! It’s so easy! I love Olivia!
Here’s my paw. Take my paw.
“Good boy!”
I know, right?
They always seem so impressed when I can lift my paw up. They lift two paws up all the time, I don’t see what the big deal is.
“Rarrr! Gotcha!”
Ahhhh! You got me, Ash! You got me!
“You wanna go outside?”
Outside!
Outside! Outside! Let’s go outside!
I don’t know why I always forget about treats and outside. They literally happen every day, but I keep on forgetting until they remind me. I love outside. I can barely contain my excitement when Ash opens the door and I squeeze past him.
Gotta get the ball. Gotta get the ball. Where’s the ball? Where’s the ball?
“Here we go, Buddy. Go get it!”
Run and get the ball. Faster. Faster. Go get the ball.
Sometimes I can run faster if I tell myself to run faster. You should try it sometime. Got the ball. Now, where’s Ash…
“Hey, Bud, I’ve gotta get back to log in for school. See you later!”
NOOOOOOO!!!
One toss? One toss is all I get? Unbelievable.
“Buddy! Come on back inside!” Mom hollers out the back door.
Running back fast. Running back fast. Running back fast.
“Awe, Buddy. You didn’t get a whole lot of playtime, huh?”
Should I jump? I think I should jump.
Jump!
“Bud, Bud, Buddy. Down. No, I can’t play right now. I have a conference call to get to.”
Ugh. I always forget that she has to do computer time, too. You’d think being home all of the time that I’d get more outside playtime, but nope. Stupid computer time takes presidents. Precedence.
Heh. Heh. Heh. Ruff!
Scratch on the door.
Heh. Heh. Heh. Ruff! Ruff!
Scratch on the door.
…
Nothing.
Fine. I guess I’ll go take a nap in the sun.
Turn one time. Turn two times. Turn three times.
Well, I guess I’ll go for now. Maybe I’ll check back in later in the day. I’ll bark to you later…
***Ding Dong***
Mailman! Mailman! It’s the mailman! Mom, get the door! Get the door! Mailmaaaaaaannnn!
“Shh. Buddy! It’s just the mail. Shh. Shh. Here you go.”
Whew! That was exciting. And Mom tossed me a snack to get me to stop barking. Works like a charm every time.
Anyway, see you later.
Bark! Bark!
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