jim_p

You know how it is said that dogs can "smell" fear?

I'm convinced that they can also "smell" adoration :)

Incident #1: My therapist has taken to bringing the family dog to work with him. If the client requests, the dog will wait in the car for the duration of the session. Since I'm an animal lover, I said this was not necessary at all. Over the past several weeks his dog and I have developed a ritual; first she'll growl at me when I arrive to assert her dominion over her domain, then she'll be all over me taking what pets and skritches she can get.

Incident #2: I recently had lunch at the home of a friend who I hadn't seen in a while. She keeps four dogs, one of whom is very active and boisterous and friendly. I took to that doggie immediately, and I'm sure he could tell that. Petting, skritching, playing tug-of-war with a toy, he knew that I was a doggie-friend.

Incident #3: This may be the clincher. Today popped into a little independent convenience store to grab something. As I walked in there was a guy there on one end of the counter (probably visiting his girlfriend-the-clerk) with a beautiful black lab puppy sitting on the counter. As soon as I laid eyes on that puppy, his eyes lit up and he trotted right to me. It's like he could tell that there was someone who really wanted to see him, and he responded enthusiastically. I asked if I could pet him, and then skritched him all over... he ate it all up!

sigh... when I'm in a place of my own with enough space, I'm defintely getting a doggie! (along with a few kitties; I'm also a bigtime cat person!). I definitely want a doggie, though :)