Dear Dog:

[Amava]

I think that family is sending you a rather clear message about the dog, mmswm.
But I agree with you that for their young son, it is very sad.
I don't think it can be helped, though. His parents just plainly don't seem to want the dog anymore.

[Lynnv]

Dearest Molly

Whilst I appreciate a dog with great taste in literature, please do not take it to the logical extreme.  Did you really have to try to eat my new book before I even read it?

Love always

your frustrated book buyer.

PS thanks for only eating the front cover and first few pages, you missed the important bits. x

Dear Julian,

Don't worry.  I'm just saving the rest for later.

Love and kisses,

Molly

[Yvaine]

Dear Lucy,

You have a family and they love you.  I love you too, but your boy really misses you when you run away.  Please stop running away from home so you don't make your boy sad.

Love,
The people you seem to think are your second family.

Awwww. Poor doggie and poor you and poor kiddo, hugs to all. I think she loves you both.

So, we brought her back Monday morning.  This morning she came back.  I dropped her off again.  15 minutes after I got home, she's back.  Again.  She's currently snoozing on the couch.  I don't know what to do with her. I do love her, but she has a little boy that would be devastated to lose her.

Honestly, I think she wants to be with you and will be better taken care of with you. They haven't made the effort to fix where she,s getting out.

I'm starting to agree with you.  After her nap yesterday, I brought her back.  Then I had to go help my dad with some stuff.  When we came back, she was back again.  So I took her back home.  She was back before bedtime.  I let her stay here overnight and brought her back this morning.  My mother said she was back within 20 minutes.  I'm to tired to drive her back.  The worst part is the guy that owns her works for the plant nursery that surrounds the house and can see her in our yard when he drives down the road that runs parallel to our driveway.  It's not like he'd have to go very far out of his way to pick her up.  Also, he has my phone number, plus my mom's, my dad's and the house number.  He knows where she runs to.  Why hasn't he called us?

I think he's passively saying he doesn't really care about the poor dear and would just as soon she stays with you.

I say hang on to her unless--maybe--they actually say something to you. It'll save her the chance of getting injured in her jaunts to your place. Poor kid--does he live close enough you could do an occasional kid/dog visit?

[mmswm]

Dear Lucy,

You have a family and they love you.  I love you too, but your boy really misses you when you run away.  Please stop running away from home so you don't make your boy sad.

Love,
The people you seem to think are your second family.

Awwww. Poor doggie and poor you and poor kiddo, hugs to all. I think she loves you both.

So, we brought her back Monday morning.  This morning she came back.  I dropped her off again.  15 minutes after I got home, she's back.  Again.  She's currently snoozing on the couch.  I don't know what to do with her. I do love her, but she has a little boy that would be devastated to lose her.

Honestly, I think she wants to be with you and will be better taken care of with you. They haven't made the effort to fix where she,s getting out.

I'm starting to agree with you.  After her nap yesterday, I brought her back.  Then I had to go help my dad with some stuff.  When we came back, she was back again.  So I took her back home.  She was back before bedtime.  I let her stay here overnight and brought her back this morning.  My mother said she was back within 20 minutes.  I'm to tired to drive her back.  The worst part is the guy that owns her works for the plant nursery that surrounds the house and can see her in our yard when he drives down the road that runs parallel to our driveway.  It's not like he'd have to go very far out of his way to pick her up.  Also, he has my phone number, plus my mom's, my dad's and the house number.  He knows where she runs to.  Why hasn't he called us?

I think he's passively saying he doesn't really care about the poor dear and would just as soon she stays with you.

I say hang on to her unless--maybe--they actually say something to you. It'll save her the chance of getting injured in her jaunts to your place. Poor kid--does he live close enough you could do an occasional kid/dog visit?

Well, I tried again.  I have to pass their house to get pretty much anywhere.  I'd post a bit of GoggleMaps, to show you, but that would be far too specific and I'd rather not advertise to the entire web precisely where I live. My parents' house is in the middle of a commercial nursery.  Literally.  You have to drive down the road that splits the nursery in half, and their driveway splits off that. This particular nursery has several locations.  The man that owns the dog is the manager for this location.  He lives on the premises. The manager's house is at the intersection of the nursery road and the main road that goes into town. Both the nursery road and my parents driveway are rather long, so going by roads, you're looking at a good mile.  I'm pretty sure she cuts through the shade houses, which cuts the distance and danger substantially.

So on my way to the store, I stopped by and gave her back.  My father called me 15 minutes later to say she'd returned.  I give up.

[Yvaine]

So on my way to the store, I stopped by and gave her back.  My father called me 15 minutes later to say she'd returned.  I give up.

I think you have a dog. 

And it does sound like they're close enough that the kid might be able to come play once in a while. And he'll probably see the dog at your place sometimes and know she's safe and cared for, which will be a comfort to him.

[gramma dishes]

I think you have a dog. 

And it does sound like they're close enough that the kid might be able to come play once in a while. And he'll probably see the dog at your place sometimes and know she's safe and cared for, which will be a comfort to him.

I agree with Yvaine.  I think the dog has decided that she belongs to you.

I do feel bad for the boy she belongs to, but something is a little off there.  If she and the boy had truly bonded as kids and their dogs usually do, she would want to be "home" with him, not trotting off to your place every time she gets the chance to sneak away.

She wants you.  She can't figure out why you keep leaving her at that other place when she's trying to make it so obvious that yours is the one she has chosen.

Unless they knock on your door and demand her return, you have yourself a doggie.

[CharlieBraun]

Dear Andy Boy,

It kills mommy that she travels so much and works late hours during busy season when she's not travleling.  But thank you for understanding that when you and daddy take her to the airport, it means she's not coming home that night.  When she heard tales that you lay in the driveway and wait for her to come home when she's overnighting, it was a heartbreaker.

On the other hand, Daddy is getting tired of dealing with your "three D's" when she is gone (depression, defiance, disobedience).  Will you ever get to the point that you know Mommy is coming back and you stop punishing Daddy for her being gone?  It's not fair to him, especially since he is patient and good to you while you are throwing your tantrums.

If you weren't so darned cute, you would be impossible.  But the way you greet either of us when we've been gone for an hour or a week - minutes of kissing the prodigal followed by racing back to the person who stayed with you and kissing them equally - is too endearing for words.  You ruined our lives, and we love you.

[Julian]

Dearest Molly

Whilst I appreciate a dog with great taste in literature, please do not take it to the logical extreme.  Did you really have to try to eat my new book before I even read it?

Love always

your frustrated book buyer.

PS thanks for only eating the front cover and first few pages, you missed the important bits. x

Dear Julian,

Don't worry.  I'm just saving the rest for later.

Love and kisses,

Molly

Dear sweet Molly

You'll have to grow a lot taller to reach it now!  And I promise, the vet visit on Saturday isn't retaliation, it was arranged prior to the book munching.

Love
Mum

[mmswm]

Dear Baxter,

No, you are not a neglected dog if you don't go for your "bye-byes" every day.  I promise you will survive three whole days without a car ride.

Love,

Your Driver.

[greencat]

Dear Rocky,

I'm not really sure what to do about the cat eating your food.  However, you should really appreciate it that I buy you such high-quality dog food that the cats will sometimes go for it instead of their own cat food - a basic brand.  Why do you persist in eating the cat food some of the time?  Your consumption of entire bowls of cat food versus their consumption of a few cat-sized mouthfuls of yours do not equal out for me financially, I might add.

Also please stop with the hair-raising howling.  I'm pretty sure your paperwork says "Labrador" not "werewolf."

Love, the food dispenser.

[Softly Spoken]

To: The Ultimate Opportunist
Re: My breakfast, and the underlying loyalty issue.

That was not your cereal.  I had not abandoned it, I had just gone to the bathroom. 
I understand that your Overlord Stomach demands complete loyalty and obedience, but I will remind you of the following:
 your stomach does not brush your ears
 your stomach does not throw your stuffed duckey
 your stomach does not protect your from loud noises
 your stomach does not take you on fun walkies, in fact it interferes with them by causing you to eat inappropriate and/or dangerous things

We had an agreement in which you would receive two rations of food daily in exchange for presenting an image of cuteness and providing companionship. This agreement is not negotiable. You cannot subsidize your salary by begging off the books, and outright thievery such as occurred this morning will result in a reduction of your rations.

I hope those frosted flakes were worth it, you furry food-obsessed little twip.

Sincerely,
Your Long-Suffering and Ever Benevolent Mistress.

[Avi]

To: The Ultimate Opportunist
Re: My breakfast, and the underlying loyalty issue.

That was not your cereal.  I had not abandoned it, I had just gone to the bathroom. 
I understand that your Overlord Stomach demands complete loyalty and obedience, but I will remind you of the following:
 your stomach does not brush your ears
 your stomach does not throw your stuffed duckey
 your stomach does not protect your from loud noises
 your stomach does not take you on fun walkies, in fact it interferes with them by causing you to eat inappropriate and/or dangerous things

We had an agreement in which you would receive two rations of food daily in exchange for presenting an image of cuteness and providing companionship. This agreement is not negotiable. You cannot subsidize your salary by begging off the books, and outright thievery such as occurred this morning will result in a reduction of your rations.

I hope those frosted flakes were worth it, you furry food-obsessed little twip.

Sincerely,
Your Long-Suffering and Ever Benevolent Mistress.

I need a 'Like' button.

Very well written.

[greencat]

Dear Rocky,
Your brain needs recalibration.  Dogs are supposed to beg for steak, which you gladly ignore me eating.  Dogs are not supposed to beg for bananas.  Or strawberries.  Or peaches. 

Love,
The not-sharer-of-food

[mmswm]

Dear Lucy,

We need to have a physics lesson.  It is impossible for two objects to occupy the same space at the same time.  This means that no matter how much you try, you cannot actually occupy the same spot on the bed where I am sleeping.  You can sleep next to me, on me, at my feet, or whatever, but you will never be able to get so close as to actually be in the same spot.

Dear Baxter,

You are not a lap dog.

Love,
Mommy

[Yvaine]

Dear Lucy,

We need to have a physics lesson.  It is impossible for two objects to occupy the same space at the same time.  This means that no matter how much you try, you cannot actually occupy the same spot on the bed where I am sleeping.  You can sleep next to me, on me, at my feet, or whatever, but you will never be able to get so close as to actually be in the same spot.

Dear Baxter,

You are not a lap dog.

Love,
Mommy

Dogs laugh in the face of physics, whether it's to do with occupying space or just how much dog can fit in a lap.  (And it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to think of Lucy at home with you.)