Tuesday, March 4, 2008

No fun without punch

If there is one thing that we can say abut Ellie, it's that she likes to be a part of the action. No matter how trivial or mundane the action might be, she will want to be a part of it, and will do her best to ensure that you can't really exclude her from it. Yesterday was no exception.

After our afternoon walk, which lasted for an hour and forty minutes, I thought she would be tired out, and so I decided to erect our new television cabinet in the relative peace and quiet.

Sure enough, as I might have expected, I'd barely got my tools laid out on the floor, before Ellie decided that she should help, and that I couldn't possibly do it without her assistance.

Of course, I could have told her to go away, or put her in her crate, but, you see, I like to encourage curiosity in a dog. When you train tricks like we do, you need to nurture that natural instinct to be inquisitive and to try new things out. Besides, it's always fun to see just what they will try and accomplish.

In just a few moments, she was climbing inside my half-erect cabinet. Even after I had put a shelf in, she decided that she could still fit in. Only when I got the doors on, did she decide that even she can't fit in any longer.

Suffice to say that I got the cabinet completed despite Ellie's 'help'. I'm sure she felt that she was really doing me a good turn. :)

2 comments:

Urban Smoothie Read said...

ellie is one busy dog..and she actually stuck herself in between the shelves...oh, that's hilarious to see...

i don't think my dog is interested with carpentry work...

snoutbeagle said...

Oh, I love this!

Ellie and our Marvin are two peas in a pod ... Marvin would do the same thing if ever I attempted something as adventurous as putting together a cabinet.

And you are like me in the sense that you enjoy the antics ... even if they slow you down a bit. The antics make them who they are!

Gotta love dogs!