Dear The Dog,
I believe you’re a person and a member of this household, and as such your preferences should be considered. I reserve the right to override your preferences if fulfilling them would overly jeopardize your well-being. And obviously, I think you’re on the short end of the stick when it comes to getting your recreational needs met. If I walked the talk, I would put more of my own activities on hold to make sure you got more playtime. But I don’t make you wear hats or clothes because I know you hate them, I don’t bang jars on counters to coax sticky lids because I know it frightens you, and I try to minimize the number of pills I shove down your throat because you don’t seem to like that very much at all.
That said, I’m not sure what to do about your new door-scratching practice. When I go to sleep early and you’re in the room with me and you want to go into the living room to hang out with C-Man, you scratch on the door. When I’m in the bathroom and you want to come in, you scratch on the door.
I want you to have a vote, and truth be told I don’t care what side of what door you’re on most of the time so it’s not hurting me much to let you in/out. You don’t have any words with which to indicate your preferences, so this is as good as it gets. But should I really be encouraging you to scratch at doors?
Bemused,
Your Mom