Giraffe

My dog has a number of indoor, and outdoor, toys that she can play with. Sometimes she gets confused, or feels a little rebellious, and brings a hard outdoor ball in or we find one of her softer plush toys soaking wet on the back lawn. It was always clear to her what she was allowed to play with until the baby came.

Our baby has a popular squeaky toy in the shape of a giraffe. You squeeze it, it squeaks, which delights our dog more than anyone. The only real difference between this toy and a few of her own is that this one is kept off the floor. We also tell her 'no' whenever she has gone near it and remember to keep it out of her reach. She's a good dog though, and understands when she is told 'no' so we weren't overly concerned.

One day I was in a rush to get to an appointment with the baby and accidentally left the giraffe on the coffee table on the way out. I briefly thought of this as we were driving away but I knew our dog had been told enough times not to touch it that she would leave it alone.

When we returned I was shocked to see the giraffe had moved. It was lying on the floor, a few feet away from the coffee table. It didn't have a single bite mark, or any dog slobber on it. It was as though it had been carefully picked up and placed on the floor. I looked over at my dog who had not greeted us as she normally does. She was lying down staring at the wall and refusing to look at me so I knew she was guilty.

Here is a dog who has not touched food, that she loves, when it has been accidentally left within reach. She will stay away from the most tempting of things when told to but yet a child's toy, a squeaky little giraffe, was too irresistible for her to leave alone. I couldn't help but giggle to myself imagining my dog carefully picking up the giraffe and it dropping to the floor. She probably tried to put it back where it was, realizing that there was now evidence that she had touched it, and being scared that she couldn't get it back onto the table. So she lay on the floor and stared at the wall- pretending like nothing happened.