海角大神

Lately, I鈥檝e been wondering what it would be like to be able to eat only when someone else offered me food, and then being able to eat only what they offered. In other words, I鈥檝e been wondering what it鈥檚 like to be听础濒产颈别, our half yellow lab, half golden retriever rescue dog.

When he first arrived about three months ago, he didn鈥檛 seem particularly obsessed with food. Perhaps he was just happy to have what seemed, at last, like a real home with people who loved him and thought he was the cutest thing since Shirley Temple sang "The Good Ship Lollipop."

But of late, Albie, now assured of our undying affection, has shifted his focus to all things edible, including a chipmunk he managed to snare, and which I managed to save, all while I was holding him on his leash. He鈥檚 quick.

He isn鈥檛 sitting next to us at the dining room table looking like Oliver pleading for a little more porridge 鈥� not yet, at least 鈥� but he does watch us eat, and when food is left out, he is displaying some deft opportunism.

A few nights ago, as we were cleaning up, Albie quietly circled the coffee table where we鈥檇 put out some noshes for friends who鈥檇 come over to watch the presidential debate. You could tell he was torn between retaining his self-control and going for the vanilla almond biscotti (one of my personal favorites).

Our kitchen is open to the family room, so he knew he was being watched. After about five minutes and a dozen circuits around the table during which he feigned disinterest, he quietly and gently made his move. Rather than the out-of-control lunge that you might expect of a dog driven mad by a food aroma he can鈥檛 resist, he carefully took one biscotti off the plate as if he were at high tea in "Downton Abbey."

I have to confess that little by little, we are giving way on some of the 鈥渞ules鈥� we thought we鈥檇 establish when Albie first arrived, mostly because he鈥檚 so darned cute when he breaks them. I mean, look at him doing homework with our son, Noah, on Noah鈥檚 bed (photo above). That鈥檚 the 鈥渘o dog on the furniture鈥� rule being flouted.

And I no longer try and stop him from jumping up, front paws on my chest, to greet me when I come home because his joy seems so unrestrained and it鈥檚 a welcome change from the general indifference that meets me whenever I walk in the door.

As for the no stealing food from counters and tabletops, well that鈥檚 proving tough to enforce, too. I鈥檝e read that dogs have a sense of smell between a thousand and ten million times keener than a human鈥檚, and that Labs have an especially keen nose, so they鈥檙e apparently at the higher end of that scale. It sounds like exquisite torture. Since I can hardy pass up a vanilla almond biscotti when I see one, I can鈥檛 blame Albie for cadging one when the aroma must be utterly intoxicating. At this rate, we may be drawing the line at no driving the car after midnight.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs.