Lucy The Wonder Dog

Our dog, Lucy, or Lucy-the-wonder-dog as I refer to her most of the time, never ceases to amaze me. You'll remember from a blog a few weeks ago that I had to chase her up and down the street to get her back home, which in turn ran me an hour late for work. Then, as I wrote in the last blog, I took her with me, unleashed, for my walk on Saturday. She abandoned me and beat me home by thirty minutes. Roommate said when she scratched on the door to be let in, she was panting and nearly foaming at the mouth as if I'd made her run a marathon. Lucy is a really good dog, yet I was totally surprised that I fell in love with her the way I did. I like dogs well enough, but have never been fond of them for more than a few minutes at a time. I don't like to be licked on and drooled on by dogs. Lucy doesn't lick. She does drool, but I've managed to tolerate it for the most part. Apparently, though, after our walk on Saturday, I have started something that I'm not sure I can finish. Usually, every morning as soon as I get comfortable in the recliner with my fresh, hot cup of coffee, she scratches on the door to be let outside. I oblige her every time, however I do not get up to let her back in as soon as she scratches. I am too lazy for that, so I wait until I get up to get ready for work before I let her back into the house. Just like clock-work, this morning when I settled down with my coffee, she began scratching on the door. I didn't get up immediately, but after a few minutes, I went to open the door. She was standing there, tail wagging in excitement, but when the door opened, she backed away from the door. "Well... go on, Lucy!" I said, as if she understood me. She looked at me kind of funny and then walked back into to Roommate's room. A few minutes later, the same scenario played out. This time, she edged towards the door, but when she saw that I wasn't going out too, she walked away. What have I done to this dog? She didn't go out all morning, and I think it's because she wanted me to go out with her. Really, I wanted to, but time wouldn't allow. I made plans to go to Cousin's tonight to walk the same path as yesterday, which I am assuming is going to become custom now that we have such pleasant weather. However, I think I need to plan on walking some at home as well so that Lucy can go with me. I probably will not take her out again unleashed, so that I can keep her with me. She may change her mind about our little walks after she's on a leash!