Buddies

Boys and dogs — better then bacon and eggs … almost. Me and Maggie with Nick.

Hello.  Snickers here.  I’m the CEO of this operation.  Of course it is our Project Manager (PM) that puts the kibble in the bowl, opens the doors, and presses the keys on the computer, but all in all, us dogs run this rodeo. 

When the rhythm of our daily dance changes, we get a little wary.  Something is afoot.  And so it was on this past Friday, when our PM actually started cleaning things.  That doesn’t happen unless she is leaving.  Oh dear.  What is up?  We love our Pet Sitter (PS) … but we HATE when PM leaves.

My nerves are on high alert.  Saturday morning and what is this … she is … BAKING?   Oh, that’s not right.  At 10:30, a car pulls in the drive.  At 10:35, another car pulls in the drive.  My tribe expresses our confusion and curiosity at maximum decibels.  There are 2 sets of normal people, one pair youngish, one pair more in the age of our PM … and 2 little squiggly short humans … little pint sized versions of the grown ups.  Oh … I get it … these are baby humans – like puppies only bigger.  Whoa … this is new to us …

As PM, I’m taking over this tale, Snickers.  These people that so confounded my dog family –  they are part of my human family, my niece, her husband, their 2 young children, and her husband’s parents.  The younger family arrived from Philadelphia to visit the kid’s grandparents in Northern Virginia for the July 4th weekend,  and all of them have come out to the backwoods of Central Virginia to visit for the day and meet the unorthodox family of the kid’s crazy great-aunt.  Me.

We met all these people from afar because PM didn’t want us to get them too dirty.  After a brief visit through fences, they leave us to stew upon this very unusual development in our routine.   But wait.  After our nap – they are back!  And we have free access to sniff and bark and wonder at the little people that we are meeting eye to eye.  Normally we meet people eye to knee.  Do you know what that is like?  We have to jump up and stretch to try to really look them in the eye. Then we get yelled at for getting them dirty.  This is so cool … I just have to stand here at dog height and I can look into the eyes of the sweetest little face ever! 

The babe in the arms of her Dad watches all in silent wonder … but remains out of reach for the most part.  But Nick, he is older.  He is on the move.  He is tentative at first, almost like I am an alien of some sort.  I put on my best CEO face; I can tell PM is counting on me to make this connection work.  The other members of my tribe are dancing around and yapping up a storm.    I am the cool, steady hand around here … cool hand Snickers is on duty.  I will make this work.  And I do, first a little pat from a tiny human hand, then a soft swipe along my back.  Oh, I am liking this.  He moves away, I stay with him.  We are getting somewhere.  Come on, it isn’t like I bite or anything. 

Before I know it, everybody is heading out the door.  They are leaving?  I was just getting into this.  I didn’t leave my new friend’s side until they all loaded up and rolled out of here.  Well, little buddy, I hope we gave you a happy memory to follow you in your journey.  I hope you will always know there is a dog out there waiting to champion you through life’s journey.  Godspeed, until you return to visit again!