My Boss's Dog

Molly is my boss's happy dog.

She runs to the boss when he comes through the door. She wags her tail. She jumps up and down. She scampers front and back. She licks his hands when he pads her. She begs when he teases her with a small piece of ham. She follows him everywhere he goes. She got all excited and hurries to the door when he says:"Molly! Wanna go outside?"

She is very happy and content around my boss, like a 1 year old baby around its parents.

But she doesn't like me at all, because I am a bad sign for her. Everytime I show up, she knows the boss's family will be away for a few days -without her.

The first time I pet-sitted her, it was a total disaster. That was the first time the boss left her alone at home. He asked me to come to his home the evening before he left to get acquainted with Molly. What a happy dog she was! My boss said she would probably be confused for a while but then she would probably be happy with me. "Look at how she licks your hand! Oh, she likes you!" he said.

The boss's family went away the next morning. When I opened the door that evening, I heard her neck bell tingling from upstairs to the door. But then she saw it was just me. Immediately she lost her oh-daddy's-back excitement, dropped her head, turned around and lay down on the couch. I walked in and sat beside her. She moved away a little bit to show her disappointment/dislikeness/alertness to me yet still keep decent politeness.

"Oh, Molly." I said.

I tried to break the ice and make friends. I padded her. I talked to her. I made funny noises. I shaked a toy fish at her in a way that my boss said would made her crazy.

Nothing.

Then I saw her eyes. I saw deep sadness. She probably thought her daddy abandoned her and I was the one who took her over.

"Life is just meaningless without Daddy around. Hand off me! This is not how Daddy pads me. This is not how Daddy talks to me. This is not how Daddy shakes that damn fish!"she said with her eyes.

"Don't worry, Molly! You daddy didn't abandon you! He will be back in three days!" Oh, how I wish she could understand my words!

She didn't respond. My heart sank. For the whole 3 days, I couldn't cheer her up no matter how hard I tried.

I felt sorry for her. Then I felt sorry for me. Never had I thought my feelings could be hurt by a dog. But there I was, sitting beside a sad dog on the couch, feeling depressed, useless, and incompetent.

I understood right there and then why the dog is called man's best friend.