Dog Sitter for a Day

This is Steven Petrick posting.

I have had the office to myself (but for the dog) much of the day.

The dog is not happy about this, as I will not give him treats. I leave that to Jean who claims she is using the giving of treats to train the dog (rewarding so called "good behavior") and SVC (who admits that he just wants to make sure the dog is devoted to him).

The dog's loneliness has reached a point that he has figured out that if I am working at the computer that faces the wall of my office, there is room for him to sleep on my lap (or at least pretend to sleep, I think I make enough noise working on the computer to keep him awake).

While this may sound like a good deal for both of us, it is for neither of us.

I need to move around enough to check references, and often that means standing up, but even if a reference is open on my desk, the dog is disturbed when I lean over to check it. There are also visits to the facilities, checking orders and product that Mike has pulled, answering the phone and . . . well suffice to say the dog is not really happy in my lap because I cannot sit still.

I do, however, gain the advantage that as long as he is back in my office, he is not in Jean's office raising a ruckus when someone walks by the door, or he sees a UPS, FEDEX, or US Mail vehicle.

And, of course, I do have to get up and take him for walks.

However, for today, we have a form of "detente".