Drool

There is no nice way to put this:  I drool.  Some dogs drool all the time and need to have their faces wiped with towels. I only drool when I see or smell food that I want.  Mommy thinks I can't control the drool dripping out of my mouth and she thinks I can't control the amount of drool.  Well, Mommy is wrong.  Please don't tell her.  I sure hope she doesn't read this because if she does, she will know my secret and I will probably be in trouble.

Here is an example of how the drooling happens.  Mommy goes in the kitchen and comes out with a nice big bowl of ice cream, our favorite food.  Mommy often tells me she wants to lose weight.  I want to help her and the best way I know how is to eat some of her ice cream.  Mommy sits on the sofa and I sit right in front of her and look right into her eyes.   I can't talk with words so I use my body and my eyes to talk.

I sit and stare and Mommy ignores me.  I lean against her legs and Mommy ignores me.  I rest my head in Mommy' s lap and she ignores me,  but she doesn't fool me.  I know she is pretending I'm not there so she won't have to give me some of that ice cream that we both like so much.  So I had to figure out what I could do that she couldn't ignore.  I thought and I thought and then I had it.  Drool!  Drool is something  that just can't be ignored.

I started out dribbling as a test by letting little bits of saliva drip on the floor.  Mommy either didn't know or didn't care and she ignored me.  "Fine!," I said to myself.  "Lets see if you can ignore drool."  I sat there concentrating on the taste of the ice cream (peanut butter and chocolate) and I felt the drool collecting in my mouth.  Then I thought about how it feels cold and creamy when I eat it and I felt more drool in my mouth.  I opened my mouth just a little bit and oh boy!   Out poured the drool!  All over Mommy's lap.  I wasn't just drooling anymore.  I was slobbering!

I guess Mommy felt the puddle of drool in her lap because she suddenly looked in her lap and said,  "Ewwww, Yuck!!  Ethel Frances,  you're slobbering all over me!  That's gross.  What is the problem?" 

I sat up tall, cocked my head to the side, and drew my eyebrows together.  I was hoping Mommy would think she hurt my feelings.  "Oh, Ethel Frances, you look so sad.  Did I hurt your feelings?  I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to make you feel bad, honey. I know you can't help it when you drool."  

Bingo! I was right.  All I had to do now was convince my mommy that her ice cream would make me feel better.  "Oh, honey.   Please don't look so sad.  Do you think some ice cream will take that sad look off of your beautiful face?"  Ahh.  Success!  I wagged my tail and smiled from my face all the way down to my stomach while Mommy was feeding me that delicious ice cream.

To be perfectly honest, the ice cream didn't taste as good as I thought it would because I felt bad for tricking my mommy. I don't think I will do that again no matter what Mommy has that I want.