A combination of the aforementioned executive dysfunction + some appetite issues caused by my ADHD meds made it difficult for me to consistently make and eat a meal in the middle of the day, which usually caused me to put off lunch until I crashed out somewhere between 2-5PM with a wave of that so-hungry-I’m-nauseous feeling. Toby’s solution to this was to start bothering me every workday at around 10:50 (I work from home) and not chill out until I’ve at least TRIED to have lunch. If I sat down to eat but then got distracted by something on my phone for too long without taking a bite, he’d get upset about that, too. But I recently realized that he no longer bothers me about lunch. He’ll happily snooze through the day. I wondered why, until I remembered that a few months ago, I took some steps to address the root causes of this problem, which has resulted in me eating a proper balanced lunch consistently. He stopped reminding me because he trusts his big two-legged puppy to reliably feed herself now.
The three of us make the trip out to visit my parents for dinner about every other Saturday, always aiming to leave the house at 3:15, but lately, I keep underestimating how long it will take me to get ready and pull together everything we need to take with us, so I’ve ended up stressed and rushing out the door late. This past Saturday afternoon, after lunch, Toby was being all snuggly with me on the couch. I hadn’t planned on taking a nap, but he is very persuasive, so I dozed off without really thinking it through or setting an alarm. Meanwhile, Partner was totally engrossed in painting miniatures in the other room and did not have a timer set, either. To you, dear reader, this situation should have all the hallmarks of a looming disaster, and evidently, Toby shared that view even while asleep with his little pool-ball-sized head resting on my calf. I awoke some time later to him standing on my chest, stomping his foot, doing spins, and making those gentle little huff sounds that are not startling but will progress to loud whining if ignored. I checked my watch; 2:50PM. This dog woke me up at precisely the right moment to ensure I could get ready and leave on time without stressing—but wait, it gets better. Even after I’d gotten up, gone to the bathroom, and started to get ready, Toby still wouldn’t settle down. I tried taking him out, thinking he must need to go, but he just wanted to bark at passerby. I brought him back in, catching my partner’s attention, and we shared a laugh for how our little lying rascal woke me up right on time, after which Partner stood up from his painting and went to get dressed, too. Only then did Toby settle down. It wasn’t until we were driving home later that I figured it out: Toby did wake me up at just the right time on purpose, but he wasn’t satisfied until he saw me talk to Partner and Partner start taking steps to get ready, too.
But the funniest one, I think, was this past Sunday. As I mentioned before, most days, Partner gets up at the obscene hour of 4AM to go for a run. But on Saturday night, he told Toby that he would be getting up at 5:30 the next morning and asked him to please let him sleep in without pitching a fit. “But that’s ridiculous,” you say. “A dog can’t possibly understand the complex levels of abstraction and social construct in that sentence.” Until Sunday morning, I would have agreed with you. But I really don’t know how else to explain why Toby let Partner sleep peacefully through his usual 4AM wake up time and then insistently woke him at—I shit you not—5:29AM on the dot.
theartofmadeline
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areudirty
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gummygunk
