If Man Were Smarter

Max: "Don't look at my ball that way."
(Click picture for larger view)

"I used to look at [my dog] Smokey and think, 'If you were a little smarter you could tell me what you were thinking,' and he'd look at me like he was saying, 'If you were a little smarter, I wouldn't have to.'" - Fred Jungclaus

Me: "Max, give me the ball. (No response) Max, let me have your ball, boy. (No response, head lowered over his ball) Max, (patting his head) give mom the ball so we can play. You love to play. (Ball is grabbed with the front paws, head lowered protectively and a low growl for effect) If you don't give me the ball we can't play!"

Then we have THE LOOK.

Max: (thinking) "Who said I wanted to play! This is my ball. You will just pretend to throw it and I'll run and you'll laugh because I always fall for it. When you finally throw it, it goes over by the fence and that scary crazy dog next door rushes up barking and he has REALLY bad breath you can smell a mile away. It goes in the grass and it just rained and the grass is still wet and you know how I don't like my feet wet. And this basketball is really, really hard to carry sometimes. Don't you know what I want? I just want to be with you. You don't have to do anything hard. Laugh when I act silly. Let me kiss your nose. Just sit and let me BE with you. But you better not be trying to take this ball!!!!"

PS: Max is still doing OK with his chemotherapy. He does have a couple of nodules that have appeared but they are not growing as rapidly. We take it week by week as long as he is happy. His doctor calls him a "character". I guess that is a good thing.

Submission for PXITE topic "dog". Max will also wander on over to the Carnival of the Dogs at Mickey's Musings. He's late but that's nothing new for the couch potato. (end of post)