This morning I performed a full patrol of the living room, which is a big job for a mini Australian Shepherd with important feet. First I inspected the blue toy, then the rope toy, then the blue toy again because its attitude had changed.
I tried to explain this to my humans by standing very still and staring at them with my eyebrows turned all the way on. They said, “Do you need to go outside?” No. I needed them to understand that the rope toy was pretending to be normal.
Oski walked through the room during my investigation and contributed one excellent sniff. Then he left, which I believe was his way of saying, “Max, you are the lead detective.” I accepted this promotion immediately and carried the blue toy to the hallway for follow-up questioning.
Later there was a suspicious noise near the front door. I gave three professional barks and one tiny bonus bark, just in case the noise had paperwork. The humans opened the door, saw nothing, and told me it was probably the wind. This is why I do not let them run security.
Training went very well because I sat, waited, and only considered launching myself at the snack hand. The humans called this “good impulse control.” I call it negotiating from a seated position.
After lunch I took a nap with one ear awake. A house cannot supervise itself. When I woke up, I gave everyone another look about the rope toy situation, but they still thought I wanted cuddles. I accepted the cuddles for morale, but my report remains open.