A doggie breach of contract

Nittany, our Lhasa Apso – Bichon Frise dog, broke our agreement. We had shaken hands and paws and everything. How did she reward me? She ripped up the contract and laughed in my face.

Here’s how it happened. Nittany was laying on the bed in my office. It’s really just a spare room, but I use it as an office when I work from home. I normally kick her out when I’m holding meetings, especially since I was getting ready for two back-to-back ones. I tend to be “on camera” and she likes to come and go and I can’t have her interrupting my meetings. On this day though, she looked so calm, so peaceful, that I decided to make an exception.

I figured she’d just sleep the afternoon away and we’d both be fine. We’d follow the rules and we’d both get what we wanted. Only if that were so. Talk about famous last words.

The meeting was going great. Everyone oohed and ahed at my well-behaved pooch and we were getting a lot done. Of course, three quarters of the way through the meeting, Nittany decided to go off. She needed to get her two cents into the conversation, not on the topic at hand, but the Amazon delivery driver at the door. She sat up on the bed and started barking and howling. I tried to mute my audio, at least shut down my video so that I could get her out of the room, but I accidentally spilled my coffee on my desk. I tried to dab at it, but I just made things worse. Finally, I left the meeting to take care of the situation. Thanks Nittany, just what I needed. 

I quickly scooped her up and put her outside of the room. When back on the ground, she raced down the steps to the front sofa to bark some more. I eventually got back on the meeting, but I seethed at Nittany for breaking our mutual agreement. 

An hour later, Nittany tried to make it up to me. She came to the door and pawed at it. I opened it and looked down at her, stopping her from entering. I stood firm and told her to go find someone who didn’t know about her contract breaking tricks. She just looked back at me with her puppy dog eyes.

Go away little doggie. 

Of course, she came up to me again later in the evening and laid her head next to me. When I reached down, she licked my hand. How could I stay mad at her? I started rubbing her ears and she licked me some more in gratitude. We’re back to being best friends, at least until the next time she breaks our contract.