The Dog

He is his master’s most faithful servant. Some mornings he seems to be able to read his master’s mind or even better, my husband claims the dog knows before him when he will be taken on a jog.

My husband is still in bed and wondering what he should do : go for a run or practice the piano or have a cold shower and start on his chores or what other choices there are. The dog knows what my husband is going to do. He is waiting patiently and attentively outside our bedroom door. The door opens and it’s only me. He wags his tail for me and doesn’t budge. I take about ten minutes in the bathroom. Coming back out, the dog is still there with bright eyes in his original position. I return to the bedroom, finding my husband still in bed, trying to come to a decision. He decides in the end to get up.

Opening the door, he gets an overwhelming greeting. It forces him a step back into the bedroom. There’s whining, prancing, jumping, yapping and a lot of tail-knocking against the walls which sound thin, of course, they’re interior walls. My husband eventually manages to make his way into the bathroom and back within a short time. He announces his intention to go for a run. I don’t think the dog has heard it, he is so busy chasing up and down the stairs in joyful anticipation. My husband gives an amused and pleased smile and coming down the stairs in his sportswear can hardly control the excited animal. There’s still the job of putting on his shoes. The dog doesn’t leave his eyes off my husband and is one hundred per cent to attention. ‘Sit!’ and he sits. ‘Lie down!’ and he does, ready to shoot off instantaneously as soon as his master makes the slightest move towards the door.
My husband takes the lead, just in case, and that’s the final signal. The dog’s gone and my husband kisses me bye-bye, wishing he could get me so excited sometimes. What does he do to the dog that he doesn’t do to me, he wonders, and he has an idea. Smiling mischievously he asks me : ’Would you like to go for a run???’ No harm in trying, I suppose.