Debrief: Situation Normal

Hello Hoomans!

I have been having a lot of fun this week! I have been visiting doggie friends every day! Hooman says it’s something about sitting but I don’t know what she means by that.

…Hooman?

Dog and house sitting. It’s a thing I do to be able to be able to afford your training and treats. This time it worked for you to come while I stay at their house.

Why not all the time? I like other doggos!

You can be a lot. And for some dogs, that’s too much. So I visit while you’re in your kennel or playing with my sisters.

That’s why you smell like other dogs sometimes?

Yes. Back to the topic at hand–paw–though?

What? Oh, right. I’ve been with friendos every day! It’s so much fun!

But it’s also very tiring, Hoomans. I didn’t know friends could be so tiring. Did you, Hooman?

Yes. I’ve known that for a while, actually.

Did you want to tell them what else you did?

Um… started training again?

Why?

Because you decided to stop being boring and start doing it again?

…That’s one way to put it.

Or, you could say you finished lesson three and are onto lesson four.

Does that mean we get to go on lotsa ‘ventures?

Some.

Why not lotsa?

Because of hooman health reasons.

When your mind goes away for a little while?

Partly.

And?

And Hooman doesn’t want it to get worse due to needing to breathe heavily through a piece of fabric the entire time. 

Why would you need to do that?

Well… do you remember the quarantine?

You mean the CORentine I wrote the book about?

Yeah, that. Well, with situations as they are these days, if we go out in public, wearing a mask is now mandatory by court order. The way I’d need to breathe with a mask makes my seizures worse. That type of breathing is actually one of the reasons I quit flute. Also it was no longer… interesting and fun.

What’s a flute?

…a magical singing stick.

A magical singing stick? Can I have one?

Do you have $500?

What’s a $?

Nevermind.

You want to talk about what else you’ve been doing this week?

Playing and training and training and playing and getting barked at and earning treats!

…it’s not nice to get barked at all the time. Sometimes it’s playing but not all the time.

They’re telling you to stop playing that way.

But I want to play that way!

Okay. But they don’t have to play that way if they don’t want to.

Or if they don’t want you to have their toy.

But I want it.

Doesn’t matter. If they don’t want to share their toys, they don’t have to.

But Hooman… I want it.

Yeah, you’ve said that.

Can I bark at the friendos if they try to sleep with you 

again tonight? Maybe I don’t want to share you.

It… doesn’t work like that.

Why not? You’re my hooman. Not theirs.

…Cor, you’re getting off topic again.

What else is there to say? I’ve been playing and training this week.

Not much else has been happening.

That’s the way it is sometimes–life is life and there’s not much to note. And, sometimes, that is something of note. Staying steady, day by day, continuing to work forward.

And, sometimes, the thing of note is a normal, everyday happening. Passing lesson three is something I’ve felt is a long time coming. But, I kept missing details and trying to record when you weren’t ready for it.

You can be silly, sometimes, hooman.

Yep. But, that’s life, isn’t it? We can be silly, mess up, and take a while to do something simple.

But…

You were not born to fail!

Woof woof!

Lauryn

And Cor!