Let There be Light

Yesterday I posted that Hilly really needed to get better about not picking up things that didn't belong to her. I'll try and explain this a little better.

First of I'll simply explain why we don't want this behaviour. The reason we don't want puppies picking up things that aren't toys is because A) these dogs are mostly labs and when I lab gets something in its mouth there is little hope you'll get it back in one piece and B) we don't want the puppies to start playing keep away with items such as shoes or socks. Besides this it could cause problems down the road if the puppy decides to move around items in their future blind partner's house.

Now, I'll tell you what Hilly does. About once every two or three days Hilly will all of sudden come running to me and drop something in my lap. It's never chewed, she doesn't try to play keep away, and it's usually something that fell on the floor early that morning that I was too lazy to pick up and put back on my desk. I am confused as to why she does this and at first I tried telling her "No!" (which is a word I don't use except for special occasions). Now, I'm not making a big deal of it at all. I take the thing she's brought me and ignore her in hopes that this would make it seem like I don't care if she brings me a gift or not.

Well, this hasn't completely worked and this episode was just far too funny not to share.

I never worry about my puppies in my mom's place because she keeps her place very clean (unlike my room...). So, my pups are always off-leash. Early that afternoon Hilly brought me my mom's box of earplugs that had fallen on the ground and then went off to play with her toys. Now, if you think a box of earplugs is weird (well, except for Mr. Dagan of course) listen to this. This set of parents are Buddhist (if you have any concerns about this please keep them to yourself) and part of being Buddhist is chanting or praying twice a day in front of the alter for at least 15 minutes if you do it all. So, we're all sitting around the alter praying and all of a sudden I look over and see Hilly walk in with a giant flashlight in her mouth. She prances over to us, drops the flashlight at my feet, and looks very proud of herself and the prize she just brought me. We all burst out in laughter and my step-father proudly proclaims, "She's found enLIGHTenment!"

It really was hilarious. It's one of the reasons I don't punish her for doing this. She always looks at me as if to say, "This was on the floor. I helped pick it up for you!" And hey, I wasn't going to tell her "no" for finding enlightenment. *GRIN*