This afternoon, I was lying on the bed when my hu-mom came in and pulled her special socks out of a drawer. ”Maybe if I just give her the puppy eyes” I thought, but she ignored me. Hu-mom changed her clothes and mumbled some gibberish: 4, 5, k…..What’s a k, anyway? Then, she stepped on a ball that I had never seen before. 

“Where did that come from? Can I have one too? Please, I want one. Please, Hu-mom!” 

“Puppy eyes, puppy eyes” I reminded myself but Hu-mom just went downstairs. She didn’t even say good-bye. Minutes later, I heard my leash drop. ”It worked! It worked” I thought as I bolted towards the door. ”I’m here! I’m here! I’m ready to go! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

“4.5k, Sweetie. And slowly. My legs are tired today.”

“No kidding! That’s because you only have 2 legs to stand on. My body is much better suited for running than yours. I have 4 legs. That’s twice as many. So I am twice as fast as you. Or I can run as fast as you and use half of the energy. That’s dog math.”

And off we went. Hu-mom was right; she was slow today. But when she looked down and reminded me for the umpteenth time that I’m a good girl, I knew what I had to do; I picked up the pace. Hu-mom didn’t complain so I knew that I was doing the right thing.

And like a good girl, I stayed by my hu-mom’s side the whole time. Well, there was one point when I got super excited because I saw a squirrel down the road. I really wanted to chase it but Hu-mom held my leash with two hands and, then, she made me stop! A full stop! Sometimes, Hu-mom just doesn’t know how to have any fun. Later, I thought I saw a bird at the side of the road but – false alarm! – it was just a big leaf.

By the time we got home, I really needed to go into the yard. Then, I sprinted circles until I was out of breath. Hu-mom tried to play ball with me but she is not very good at it; she kept trying to take the ball back. I ran a few more sprints, followed my hu-mom inside, got my treat and settled into a long nap. 

Life is good.