Week 3 August 2016 |Chloe – Dogs are good at acting “cool”

My Poppa lets me do what I want. Memaw not so much. She keeps an eye on me and lets me know if she is displeased. Sometimes she even uses her “boss voice.” That means she isn’t messing around so I best pay attention. I’m supposed to start doing what I’m not doing or stop doing what I am doing. One thing that gets me in trouble is when I stand at the fence and bark for my neighbors to come pet me. My brother,Jake, just stands with his nose poked through the fence and waits for someone to come and scratch his ears. I, however, insist I must have attention – immediately! So, to get around Memaw and to get my way, I run to the fence, bark my head off, shut my mouth, then look back to see if Memaw’s watching me from the porch. If I don’t see her, I do it again. Bark. Hush. Glance back. If I hear the back door open, I quiet down, stroll away from the fence and circle a tree, all the while looking like Chloe-the-good-girl. You see, I’ve learned that there are two ways cool dogs make their human parents think they are minding — not getting caught and if they do, looking as innocent as possible like some other dog must have been the one misbehaving.