I get up from my nap groggy and annoyed. I had been up late the night before and was looking forward to catching up on my rest. Instead, Nittany, our beloved pet for the past 11 years, had other ideas. Nittany, a Lhasa Apso – Bichon Frise mix, spent ten minutes barking at what turned out to be an Amazon delivery driver.
My lazy afternoon catching up some much-needed z’s went out the window. I tried to go back to sleep, but my mind was already busy thinking about all the things I could be getting done. I couldn’t help but thinking: “Oh hell, I may as well get up now.”
“Damn dog!”
When I got up and walked downstairs, I found Nittany perched on our sofa in perfect guard dog formation, staring out the front window. When she saw me, she let out a big smile. She couldn’t have been prouder of herself. You could almost see rolling her head from side to side gloating in a “look at me” fashion. In her little mind, she had saved the family and me from the big bad delivery driver.
“Nope, he didn’t get us today,” she seemed to say. In reality, I’m not even sure the driver thought much about the visit, except maybe to be annoyed by the little neighborhood yapper incessantly barking at him.
In any event, that’s the way it goes in our house. Nittany yaps, I yell at her to stop, but she keeps on barking. I keep threatening to take her to doggy obedience school or, worse, send her to the pound, but my wife and daughter say no.
They point to all the times Nittany has saved us.
The craziness of it is that if Nittany were ever faced with a real-life intruder trying to get away with our TV or our so-called precious valuables, I’m pretty sure she’d roll over and play dead. Or wait for her belly to be scratched. Or run to the cupboard to prance and beg for a snack. She’s a pushover.
Oh, don’t be fooled. If a rabid chipmunk or squirrel ever try to break in or gnaw their way into our house, oh, I’m pretty sure we’re covered, she’s the right dog for the challenge. She’d be there to protect us. A burglar? I doubt it.
And one more thing, the Amazon delivery driver, the one Nittany created all the ruckus and fuss about, well he didn’t even stop at our house. When I went to the door to check, there was no package, no evidence anyone had even been at our door. The package was for our neighbor.
Good grief!
Man’s best friend and a few other stories:
Writing from the Heart with Brian 
Love the simple things in life. Nittany to me seems like Ike of them!! Love you all
LikeLike