See this adorable dog?

I love her. Yes, I do.

I gave up an entire summer for her. Agonizing time, that. She ended up on doggie prozac, and almost put me in the human version. (Probably should have gone ahead with it then since I ended up on it anyway!)

I bust my butt for this dog because…one, she’s a sweet, wonderful canine and two, I believe that pets deserve a commitment. When you bring one into your home, you owe them love, attention and even a few sacrifices.

And that’s been all good for so long.

Lately, though, our relationship has changed. It’s subtle, but it’s also bothering me.

She’s a dog with zero confidence to begin with, so she’s never been assertive. Lately, though, she’s doing this passive-aggressive thing where she sits and stares at me all the time, hoping with a hope of a million suns that I’ll get up from my spot and take her for a walk. Which she should know after three years with a child at home that I can’t usually do until after Scott returns from work.

And while I’m gone three days a week, she sits nicely and holds her potty for 5:00 PM. On the days I’m home? She wants to go outside every ten minutes. If we go downstairs to watch TV or play, she’ll wait alertly for me to make any more toward the stairs so she can rush upstairs and sit sentry at the door. I’m fine with letting her out every couple of hours, but the back door has become a revolving door.

Once she’s out, she’ll do her sniffing and then come back and sit on the deck, looking at me through the window. When I open the door? She just keeps sitting there looking at me.

OK, here’s my last complaint. She’s also started getting underfoot much more. Every time I turn around, my path is blocked. And she doesn’t get the “please move” hint very well. The other day I was a bit stressed and she was standing in front of the stairs I was about to descend and I just yelled at the poor dog: WILL YOU JUST PLEASE MOVE???

Oh, Juliette. I so, so love her. I just wish I knew what was going on in her doggie mind.