We argued about the treats again. The old man wouldn’t give me one, and I wanted one right now. But every time I tried to explain to him why, he told me “no.” It was just a flat “no” too. No reasoning on his part, he was just holding out on me for no reason at all. At least that’s the way I felt about it.
“Just one,” I woofed putting my paw on his leg. “I just need one… for now.”
But the cuter I tried to look, the less the old man paid attention to me. It was getting harder to use the face and my tail was getting tired from all the wagging I was making it go through to achieve ultimate cuteness. I was getting drained.
I tried negotiating some more, but nothing seemed to be getting through to the old man. I think he was just in one of his grumpy moods or something. If I was ever going to get a treat, I’d have to get him out of his mood and out of that chair.
So I started constructing my plan. What would work? What would get the old man out of his chair? None of my tricks worked on him, even the best ones like my dance and the tail chase.
My first idea was bringing toys to see if the old man wanted to play. Sometimes when I’m grumpy, I like to play and it always puts me in a better mood. But the old man didn’t like the ball the rope or the squeakers. And I piled them high, but even the ones that I tried putting on his lap were not softening the old man to my requests.
After that didn’t work, I headed out to see what other things I could find. Maybe I needed something he wanted and we could work out a trade or something.
I looked around outside to see what I could find. Plenty of grass and the garden was all dirty and fresh ready to grow some food things. The tree was making the leaves and the squirrel was chasing the birds, but nothing caught my attention.
Then I found something very interesting. I’d remembered it from before, but it was sort of muddy and smelling a little funky. After scooting it around a little bit to shake off the dust, I nabbed it up and took it inside to show the old man to see if it would put him in a better mood.
The old man looked at what I’d brought him and wondered. He made the very confused face. I could tell he recognized it, and slowly his frown turned upside down. He took it from me and dusted it off a bit before getting up and heading for the kitchen.
“So can I have a treat now?” I woofed.
We went to the kitchen sink and the old man washed his hat. And when he was done, without even drying it out, he slapped it over his shiny head with a “smack.” Then he looked at me with a goofy grin and I could see his mood had changed.
“So can I has a treat now?” I asked.
And it was so.
Author:
Jason Duron is a short story writer and author of several fiction stories. Curious and lovable as dogs can be, the Adventures of Rocky, Nixi and Dante give you a chance to see daily life from a “dog’s eye view” and share in their thoughts. Please enjoy, and we hope that you’ll feel free to comment and give us insight into your dog’s very own adventures.
