I'll be Back Soon.

You know how everyone is always saying that doggies are loyal and patient? Well, it occurred to me how painful it must be for doggies to wait for us all day. We don't like waiting, do we? Why should we think it's any the less painful for them? I do hope I treat these guys OK.

I try to take the them everywhere I go, but so many places will not let dogs inside and, in the insufferable heat, it's dangerous to leave them in a car, even if the windows are down. Inevitably they have to be left at home where it's cool. But there's no explaining to them why.

I try to reassure them when I leave. I say, "Be goo' boys now" and "I'll be back soon." But that conceptual assurance means nothing to them. What they hear is the "he's-leaving-bark". So I pet them and sometimes hug them and do what I can to let them know that I love them.

Invariably when I come back, there are two noses, pressed against the glass sliding doors waiting for my return. In truth, I feel bad for leaving them alone and I am just as happy to see them as they are to see me.

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From Heat to Heater

It has been an oppressive, dry, hot summer. After 8.30 in the morning it is too hot to go out until later in the evening when it is at least merely sultry. The doggies do get bored and want to go out but they don't last much longer than it takes to reach the sidewalk.

Finally, the weather is getting bearable. I actually turned the heater on this morning. The doggies have made themselves two bumps under a blanket.

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Sulky Pups

Dear Ellen:

Fips and Rosco are in a snit. They had a spat last night over some doggie issue) and went into a royal sulk when I separated them with a bark of my own. Neither would look at the other and each demanded total reassurance from me which meant that I spent the night immobilized and sandwiched between two affirmatively snuggling doggies.

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