I’ve mentioned that poor Chappy hasn’t been out for a walk since Friday because it’s been so hot, but have I mentioned how bored he looks? Unlike a/c-deprived dogs, he hasn’t been stretched out on the floor panting through this heatwave, but he’s been draped over the arm of his chair in the window, looking listless and bored, bored, bored.

Well, that won’t do!

On my way home at lunch today, I was trying to come up with something he and I could do for the 25 minutes of my lunch break that is usually filled in with a walk. Sometimes I’ve inflicted things like nail-trimmings or quick haircuts on him. And neither of us minds the occasional missed day–it just gives us a chance to hang out in the window together–but after three days of that, he deserved something fun, so I decided to pull out the clicker, and we could work on a new trick or something–but it would give him something to DO, which was the whole point.

I came home, made my sandwich, and then grabbed the clicker and some treats and headed into the living room, with Chappy happily beside me, because that’s something we haven’t done in ages. (Don’t ask me why, because it’s great fun for both of us.)

I sat down on the ottoman and waited for him to do something, anything … so he started “throwing” his tricks at me. Sit! Down! Bravo! Spin! And when I didn’t click any of those because I was looking for something new, he started barking at me. Not in a mean-bark kind of way, but in a, “Look at me, Mom!” kind of way. (You know, in case I was missing that he was doing such a fabulous play-bow.)

After a few minutes of this, Dad came downstairs to see what was going on, and when he saw it was a lesson, sat down on the couch to watch. (Because, no, having an audience isn’t the least bit intimidating when trying to learn something new.) And then he started to ask questions–what was I clicking for? Why was he barking? And when Chappy would glance over at him, he’d tell him, “No, I don’t know what she’s clicking for, either.”

So, that was our first distraction.

Then, the lawn-mowers arrived in their big truck-and-trailer and started to unload the mowers and blowers and other assorted noise-makers. Naturally, Chappy had to excuse himself from the lesson to run to his window to announce that they were there (even though we knew that already), but he came back to the living room quickly enough when I reminded him I was sitting there with treats, but now, he kept looking past my shoulder to keep an eye on the mowers. (They can be dangerous, you know.)

So, that was our second distraction.

Then, third distraction, the UPS truck arrived. (Sigh)

Then Dad lost interest because he couldn’t figure out what I was clicking (though Chappy was doing just fine when he wasn’t staring out the window), and finally I gave up, too, and headed into the kitchen to eat my lunch. I figured that at least I’d given him something to do, even if for not as long as I would have liked … and, besides, I had one more thing in mind for him.

I ate my lunch and then went to sit with Chappy on the chair in the dining room for a few minutes before I had to go back to work. I’d been there for all of 5 minutes when my sister pulled up. She and Mom had gone to visit an old friend this morning, but Patty had to get back home to pick up my nephew from school, so they had to cut it short. But Chappy was thrilled when they came in the house. I’ve told you how much he adores saying hello, and two family members at once? Even better! Though Patty only stayed about 5 minutes, and then he had to say goodbye (his tail stopped wagging), followed very quickly by MY having to go back to work.

As I say, though, I had one more idea for Chappy-entertainment. I took an empty Kong toy out of the freezer, filled it with kibble (which we keep around the house solely for this reason), plugged the end with a little cream cheese, and then had him sit while I hid it. I obviously didn’t hide it very well, though, because he found it in about 30 seconds flat, and since I’d put it on his chair, it was held perfectly in place by his blanket and pillow, so that he didn’t even need to HOLD it to clean it out.

He enjoyed it, though.

And the best part?

He doesn’t look bored anymore.

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