#2556 today’s best: my dogs

It’s kind of surprising that I am 12 days into the month before I chose my dogs as the best thing about the day. They are entertaining and fun every day, and a huge part of our lives. 

Today was a WFH day for me. When I am working from home, I usually leave the back door open just a smidge so Mac can poke her skinny nose through the space and open the door enough for her and Harley to get through. Harley isn’t as good at opening the door as Mac is, and I don’t know why. She kind of paws at the door with her foot, but usually just succeeds at pushing it closed. Then she whines and looks at me with her sad dog eyes.

When the dogs go outside, they run around the yard. They have a path, and you can see the trails in the grass. They have lots of bones to chew on, balls to play with, and pieces of wood that they have ripped off the fence that they like to drag around. The yard is kind of a mess, but they seem to like it.

When they get tired, Mac lays down in the shade. She will either lay down on the concrete in the shade of the grill, or in the grass where it’s shady. Harley prefers to lay in the sunshine. She can often be found snoozing on the deck by the back door where she can hear me moving around. Harley comes in and out of the house more than Mac does. I think Harley feels temperatures more acutely than Mac. Mac loves to be outside in all weather. Harley is a lot more picky about the weather situation.

My favorite thing is to see them laying together on the deck in the late afternoon. It was still warm around 3:00 today, but the deck was in the shade, and both dogs were stretched out on the deck, watching the birds fly around and listening for me to get up, indicating that my work day was done. We usually go for a walk at 4:00 when I shut down for the day. 

After our walk, we went up to the bedroom. I turned on some quiet piano music, wrote in my journal, and they fell asleep. When I put on quiet music, especially piano, they chill right out and go to sleep. I discovered this quirk when they were sleeping in the kennel. When Mac was a wee pup and I had her in a crate, she would whimper and cry, like puppies do. She responded really well to the sound of a ticking clock and would quiet down very quickly. When we got Harley and she was sleeping in the kennel, she would also whine. I put on classical music and they would both settle down. Neither of them are in a kennel now, but the quiet music works like a charm. 

Mac and Harley are certainly active and require attention. They are also fun and sweet, most of the time. I’m glad they are here.