The cat still thinks he’s a total idiot

So the other evening I was home alone with the Idiot Dog. I was working on 1st read through of my 1st draft of the 2nd book.  Did you follow that?  The paper copy I have is riddled with red ink in the margins and there are various color-coded tabs sticking out of the pages. However, for the 1st draft, I’m relatively happy with what changes need to be made.

That is at least from my perspective.  My Sisters haven’t read their copies yet to give me their opinions.  That frustrates me – especially Ava since she has been hounding me to finish for months, but that is not the point of this post.

The point was Idiot Dog.  I was sitting on the couch making my red notations when Roscoe came up and gave me the look.  You dog owners know “the look.” I assumed he needed to go outside to perform some doggy business, but when I got up he didn’t actually want to go outside.  What he wanted was to play.

He asked so nicely and it’s hard to refuse his hound dog eyes. Besides, I needed a break so I indulged him in a rousing game of Hide & Seek.  You know, for a hound dog, he was remarkably bad at it. I don’t know if he gave his nose the day off or what, but I shouldn’t be able to hide in plain sight and have him not be able to find me. You’re probably thinking he was pretending he couldn’t find me, and that’s what I initially thought as well.  The sad truth is, we’re both giving him way too much credit. Not only could I hide in plain sight but I could also sneak up on him and scare the living crap out of him.  I’ll freely admit that was quite satisfying.

He was racing around the circle: kitchen to hall to living room to dining nook to family room to hall to kitchen again. He was baying like a lunatic and running like he was working on the hound dog land speed record. He actually corners pretty wellbut, when it’s an especially sharp turn, he’ll inevitably bounce off a wall.  He never lets that slow him down though. He’ll just pinball off the wall and continue on running. One of these days I’m afraid he’ll break a hip – let’s just hope he eventually turns into the sleeping-on-the-porch hound dog we were all hoping for when we got him. I’m certain that eventually his DNA will come out of its latency and he’ll realize he’s not supposed to have so much energy.

But for now, I was having fun with him.  He’d come riping around the corner and I’d  jump out of hiding. He’d flip out and spin in the air and take off the other direction crowing with glee. Once or twice I stayed “hidden” in one of the corners on his race course.  He’d run by me two or three times before I’d jump out at him.  You wouldn’t have believed how funny it was to see him practically pee his little puppy pants in surprise.

It was a rare moment when the dog who came into our family as a gift to me was willing to have anything to do with me.  I’m usually ignored completely in favor of his one true love, but his daddy wasn’t home and I was willing. I might have scored a point or two.