Master of the House !

My husband laughingly joked that “Bullet” was the “king” of the household, and he was the “prince.” OK, I admit that I spoiled our dog, buying him an upscale miniature sofa to sleep on and a tent, since he liked to be inside and under things: tables, blankets, sheets, and chairs. All I had to do was hold up a towel, and Bullet would race to go under it – he liked being enclosed and covered up: a terrier-trait lesson learned from his mother.
Of course, Bullet had lots of dog treats, chew sticks, and numerous squeaky toys (alright, lots!). I let him pick out a toy each time we went to Pet Smart, where he went up and down the aisles sniffing, choosing something, then dropping it to choose something else: a small soccer ball and basketball were among his favorites. Holding the chosen toy in his mouth at the checkout counter, the sales clerks were always amused and impressed when Bullet opened the toy by himself, determined to get it out by efficiently and quickly standing on the package and pulling the plastic wrapping with his teeth. How proud I was of him – such a smart boy! He would then prance proudly (and loudly) with it, as we walked to the car. Cute as all this was, the downside was that we listened to the squeaking of each toy for a while, at least until the novelty of it wore off! In desperation, one time I tried to hide a new toy in the closet, but this didn’t work – Bullet sat and stared at the closet door, knowing/smelling it was in there; his concentration was impressive – he was absolutely obsessed with each new toy!

As Bullet’s first birthday approached, I was excited and felt that, since he had been a wedding present to us, we should give him a present in return. Yes, we treated him like he was our child, and in a way, he was – ‘king’ of our hearts, ‘commanding’ our love!