It happened so fast that I couldn’t capture it on film.

I said, as I’ve said to the southern belle several times a day for the last 38 months, ‘Where’s your toy? Go get a toy!’

And when I turned back to her, simultaneously scratching the old man’s ears, she was pushing her well-chewed Nylaknot into my side. I was sitting on the couch giving Casey his morning snuggles - the routine we go through each day just in from outdoors and before I get both of them back into their crates so that I can get ready for work.

I took the Nylaknot and dropped it.

SHE PICKED IT BACK UP and pushed it at me again – play with ME, Pat. MY turn.

I know, I know. She has led me along this random offering-of-a-behavior path before. But each step she makes gives me another piece of her to work with, another way to make an impression. 

And this time it was in her eyes – she wanted my attention on her and not on the old man. So instead of inserting herself in between us as she usually does, she brought me a toy. HER toy, one of only three kinds she likes: nylabones, shin bones, and rawhides. My southern belle likes her toys hard – she is not into squeakies and stuffies and by the goddess, hold the tennis balls!

And (relatively) unprompted, she offered me a game. HER game. That’s a start.