Puppy Love

Mark's sister, Dawn, asked us to babysit. She has no kids, but she has one gorgeous dog. A puppy, really. The kids love him, he doesn't jump, he's very patient and insanely toleranty of kids, he rarely makes any kind of noise, and his drool is kept to a very bare minimum. LOVE him.

The only problem? He is painfully shy. He hides behind his owners whenever someone comes too close for his liking. When they aren't around, he finds a good corner to hide in.

She dropped him off with his food (which he never touched), a leash, a toy, and one sock. He came into our house, crawled under the table, and went into a scared rabbit mode- standing very, very still- no blinking even.

You can imagine how funny it was to the kids...a dog that plays hide and seek?! Woot!

As the day wore on, Guinness became less afraid of us. The kids had their Power Ranger riding his back, and they played peek-a-boo with him as he tried to sleep.

During the night, when we were all in bed, I could hear his dog tags jingling downstairs. When I came down to check on him, I turned on the light in the living room, and he froze.

There he was, in a half-pounce stance, eyes as big as saucers, and with Dawn's sock hanging from his mouth. He stood very, very still, moving his eyes around as if to tell me, "What?! I'm not doing a thing. Just standing here...."

After turning the light back off, and returning upstairs, I heard his jingling tags again.

Now, if I could just find a way to either kidnap him, or convince Dawn that he's better off with me...