Since I walked 1,825 miles with Leslie Sansone last year I was so burned-out by December 31st that it has been hard for me to get myself motivated again to walk regularly. So I feel good for walking this morning, even though it was only four miles, because at least now I'm trying to get back into a daily walking routine. And hopefully in a few weeks I will be back to walking six miles or more a day.
As I type this, I'm sitting on my pink sheepskin, that my dear friend Mari gave to me a while back, because my back is on the verge of going out, because of Tony's dog—even though it is my own fault for teaching her a dumb trick.
A few months ago when I was going to take a nap, Toto and Belle Starr-Simons raced into the bedroom because they wanted to take a nap with me but they could not jump up on our bed. Because little Toto is at least fourteen-years-old I always pat the mattress first and say, "Help me, Toto," and that is his cue for him to jump up on his hind feet, with his two front paws leaning against the sideboard of the bed, so I don't have to bend all of the way down to lift him and put him on our bed.
On that day, after Toto had "helped me," I looked at Belle and said, "Help me, Belle," and because she is so smart—she jumped up and did exactly what Toto had done, so I could lift her and put her up on the bed with Toto, so we could take a nap together. And since that day Belle always "helps me" lift her up onto the bed or up on a chair in the big room. Here is a pretty funny, short 20 second video clip that Tony took of "my little helper" and me that I have titled: Jumping 101! And below are pictures of us that he took after shooting the video.
I thought it was a cute trick back then, when she was just a little puppy, but now weighing in at forty-five pounds—my little helper Belle has been pretty hard for me to lift. In fact, there have been several days lately, when I wanted to go take a nap, but didn't do it, because she has become a real pain in the back for me.
So, this afternoon when I was fixin' to take a well-deserved nap I decided to try to get Belle to jump up on the bed instead of "helping me." After Toto "helped me," Belle jumped up on her hind legs, so she could "help me" but instead I jumped on the bed, patted the mattress and said, "Jump on the bed, Belle."
Belle made a couple of unsuccessful attempts to get up on the bed with us and then she threw a temper tantrum and started barking at me. Then Mr. Toto ran to the edge of the bed, bared the only two teeth he has left and he began barking back at her, so, now we had a full blown bark-a-thon going on in our bedroom.
Since my non-nap had obviously turned into a nightmare before I even had the chance to close my eyes, I decided to end their doggie-daytime--drama, so I could teach B.S.-S. how to jump up on the bed, etc.
Belle and I went into the big room and she sat and curiously watched me remove everything off of our coffee table, then I said, "Belle, jump up," as I patted the rustic, cedar coffee table that Tony had made for me, fourteen years ago. Belle balked.
So I lifted her up and put her on the coffee table and she sat down. Then I lifted her and put her back down on the floor. "Come on Belle, jump up. I know you can do it..." And I was wrong, because Belle couldn't do it, so I lifted her and put her back on the coffee table and that's when Tony walked inside the trailer.
"Why is Belle standing on our coffee table?"
"Because she doesn't know how to jump, Tony. I am trying to teach her how and the coffee table is the nearest to the floor." T. started laughing and then Belle jumped off the tabletop and ran to him.
"My Belle, knows how to jump, Nance," Tony said, as he patted her on the head. "She is just being lazy because she likes for you to lift her up on things. I'll show you." Then the three of us went outside so Tony and Belle could show me that she knew how to jump. Two minutes later we came back inside because Belle had jumped up two feet to get on the doggie ramp.
Then we came back inside and went into our bedroom. "Nance, watch this," Tone said, as he got on our bed and patted the mattress. "Get up here, Belle!" Belle shot me a quizzical glance, either to make sure I was watching her or wondering if she should do it, and then to my surprise—she jumped up on our bed and laid down next to Tony. "See, I told you she could jump."
"Okay, get off of the bed and let me try it with her." Belle and T. got off of our bed and then I got on our bed and said, "Get up here, Belle!" Belle looked at me strangely and then she stood up on her hind legs and leaned against the bed so she could "help me." Tony burst out laughing and then Belle started barking at me. Life is not fair when you live with a dog that is smarter than you.
Y'all have a great evening!
1 comment:
Hilarious!! Belle is too much.
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