Doing His Job

I love my dog.  I take him for walks and he obeys.  He plays with the cat.  He is waiting for me in the car when I come out of the store.  He sleeps under the bed and farts and groans and makes me laugh.  But now that we have a toddler, he's actually earning his keep.

First of all, he's a vacuum cleaner.  I'm not sure what people do about all the food under the high chair if they don't have a dog.  I mean, you're not going to clean up under there 5 times a day, are you?  I wouldn't.  But Toby does.  This skill alone pays for all of his pills and shots and vet visits.

Toby prompted Sam's first giggle when she was just a couple of months old.  Adam came home and chased him around the house like he always does.  Sam must have heard me laughing at this dozens of times, and one day, she joined in.  This pays for the hell he put me through as a puppy.

Samantha is old enough to play fetch with him now, too.  For some reason, this Labrador Retriever will not fetch for Adam or me, but he will for Sam.  If we throw something he might bring it back once or twice but then he's done.  For Sam, he'll fetch as long as she's interested.  Maybe it's because she can only throw the ball a few feet and he figures it's worth the trip.  Maybe he enjoys the way I clap and say, "yea!" in my cutsie voice when Sam is involved.  Or maybe he finds her as adorable as I do when, after throwing the ball, she turns around and runs the other way, squealing with delight.

Whatever the reason, it's our favorite game right now.  I get to lie on the couch and just watch them play.  Toby usually brings the ball back to me, not to Sam, so I tell him, "drop it," and then hand it to her for the next throw.  I'm trying to teach her to give him the "drop it" command, but she can't get the syllables straight.  She is, however, getting the hang of giving him other commands.  She can tell him to fetch, which she says very clearly.  She also delights in telling him he is a "bad boy."  But the best one is when she tells him to sit, which she pronounces, "shit."

Yep, that dog is in the black now.