Valentine’s Day Is Every Day ❤️🐾❤️
Daily life for us is very simple. Hours are clocked off by our dog’s needs, not ours. Out, in, out, treat, lunch, out, treat, dinner, out, snacks for all, fun stuff, bed.
Our life is simply ordered. We love it.
Our 11-year-old bearded collie Paddy has developed over time from playful to psychic! I’m sure all dog and cat lovers know the real truth—if you love your animal, they respond with loyalty.
However, of all the dogs we have loved, this dog is a Freud watching our every move and anticipating the next one. Paddy must have an internal people clock. He watches and knows when I’m thinking of going to get a drink. Poof—he appears and drinks from his water dish.
I’m thinking that when this program ends, I’ll go to the bathroom. Poof—Paddy is there waiting. Then I take him out. When we come back indoors, he lingers and watches as I drink some water. So, obviously, I must give him a tiny good-boy treat. After all, he’s so polite.
Mealtimes are unique. And very weird.
Paddy never bothers with breakfast. He might take one cheerio to make me happy, but he doesn’t beg. He’s holding out for lunch!
My husband and I usually split a sandwich and fruit for lunch while Paddy gets little cooked hamburger nuggets one at a time while we eat. We usually have coffee and goodies after lunch.
To Paddy the word “coffee” is a signal that good things are on the way. Usually, he gets a touch of vanilla bean ice cream by hand or cookie. After eating, Paddy hops on the loveseat with his huge hairy rabbit feet up in the air. He is not spoiled.
Dinner rituals are learned you know. We are very boring. While I prepare dinner, my husband and Paddy team up to hurry the process. To calm the dog, I get his dry food ready and heat some hamburger nuggets to mix. Hubby is the dog food mixer and feeder par excellence. While he mixing the food for Paddy, I’m putting people food on the table. We like to eat as a family! After we give thanks for the meal, hubby puts Paddy’s dish on the floor beside his chair. Paddy stands waiting. We are then all happy!
Of course, I didn’t tell the whole story about Padfy’s loveable but weird behavior after meals. The above photo is his typical pose after his dinner “weirdness”! The loveseat is his napkin, his cave, his trampoline, his bed, his happy place. I kept trying to video him, but he’s way ahead and stops being weird. I’ll try to describe my weirdo baby, and if I get a decent video later—I’ll share.
After Paddy has eaten, he stands at attention until we have cleared the table. He’s polite that way, or he’s hoping something will fall off the plates. He then hops on the ancient loveseat (we kept it for him when we changed sofas since he’s a big dude)!
He buries his head in between the cushions, tosses his dog cover off into the floor, shakes his ears, plops on his back, tummy fat and happy, 4 furry feet up in the air, head lolling off the side so he can see what we’re doing in the kitchen. He waits for the green light to hop off and go outside—my husband puts his hat and coat on. It’s off to the races! This dog can go from zero to 100 mph in a heartbeat.
❤️Happy Valentine’s Day from Paddy the Psychic Comfort Dog and Weird Baby!
The photo below was taken at 4 months before he became as weird as we are! ❤️
A delightful tale!
I think all dogs are psychic, but they're also incredibly observant. I saw psychic woo woo in my Lola's ability to materialize precisely when her food is ready. Then I realized she was listening for the sound of the microwave door closing!
As an animal lover and worker in rescue many years in the past, I adore Paddy of course. I’ve homed fosters and personal cats and dogs for….oh, my, going on 50 years and with a late start! I remember all who have gone over the rainbow bridge 🌈 with deep affection and have all their cremains ready to depart with me to a secret place as yet undecided. I lost my last dog, a Boglen Terrier, adopted of course, in August of 2023. That may hurt the worst because he is the last dog I will be able to care for with progressively worse mobility issues. But I have the sweetest, shyest two senior cats ever 😽😽 Sophie and Claire who is so bright at eleven she jumps in my lap to take insulin injections for her well controlled diabetes when the time is right. I always get it ready from my wheelchair in the kitchen while getting breakfast for all three of us, and somehow she senses when it is needed so the one trip suffices.
They understand my limitations and live essentially in my lap reclining and writing on Substack. They keep me warm; Sophie thinks she is a neck scarf and curls around ever so petitely. Claire stretches out between my legs being larger and seeking comfort. I go on for them, the last of my 14 personal pets that were adopted and stayed forever. It’s amazing how all my critters have communicated and many were foster failures. Just impossible to turn back in after bonding. I think the rescues count on that a great deal. Thank you for sharing happy Paddy. I know how very much love he adds to your life as my experience is much the same. ❤️🐶🌈😽😽 plus memories of so very many more.