No One Can Sulk Like a Lab

I'll just lay on Yoda Matt until my walker is here.

I telework pretty much full time unless I have a trial and have to go into the city.  Still, it's usually a busy day, and lunch is usually spent getting dinner in the crockpot or prepped for the oven.  So I have a dog walker come over and give Abby a walk.  Lorelei is not big on walks, she prefers to play fetch in the yard which is someone I can do on short breaks.

My husband takes Abby for a long walk (or a run) before he showers and goes to work and a short walk for both dogs when he gets home from work while I get the dinner dishes done (with the size of our kitchen, I opted for space during the remodel, not a  dishwasher).

Rolling in someone else's yard is more fun than rolling in my own!

We use a professional service, run by a local man and woman.  Abby has one main walker and two for backup in case of emergency or illness.  Abby just LOVES her main walker J.  She reacts fondly to all of them, and they are so careful and diligent abut giving her a safe walk, but when J's car pulls into the driveway she goes bonkers.

No, that's a truck, I want the green car shaped like a toaster!

J. is a retired mail carrier, and in addition to loving a brisk walk, she talks to Abby the whole time in this always chippy and cheery voice and Abby just loves that, responding to the voice with great joy. I've been laughing as J. walks to supplement her retirement to have money for world travel (which she loves) and is currently learning Spanish.  So as they leave I hear her talking to Abby in Spanish.

With the COVID thing, my husband was home most of the week for the last few months so it was "not today Abby, no J. today" and she'd sigh and go back to her bed.

Since I knew how much she had missed her walker -  on Friday morning, a day my husband went into the plant  I said, "J's coming!" (she knows what that means)  I repeated it over the course of the morning, and she got more excited and happy, looking out the window from the couch any time she heard a car,, then going back to her favorite spot in the sun on the dining room rug to wait for the sound of a key in the lock.

Then I hear someone opening the back door. Abby's tail is doing warp 10 and she about lifts off the rug like a helicopter!

 Ack!  It's not J!

Oh uh, apparently J. took the day off to do some community volunteer work. It was one of the backup walkers. a lovely young woman.  Abby went promptly out but you could tell she wasn't too cranked about the turn of events and didn't bark at all like she normally does as they head through the sunroom and out the back door to the yard.

Stone silence today as they made their way down the back steps.

Thirty minutes later, when she got home, E. gave her a treat and some pats and left and Abby returned to her favorite spot on the rug - and the sulking began.

 You LIED to me, you said J. would be here today!

 Maybe she's still coming  I'll stare at the back door for a while

 She's NOT coming.  Let the stink eye begin.

 Mom's a meanie!  She promised J. and she never came.

 Sigh - I'll just sulk here all day and not even get up for a treat.

I haven't seen J. for 87 years, Mom is SOOO mean.

When my husband got home from work, Abby didn't even greet him at the back door with a wagging tail but just lay on the couch where she retreated when her sunspot was gone. He looked at her moping and said

"What happened?"

I said, "I told her J. would be here and it was E.!"

He looks at Abby laughing and said, "So Mom LIED to you."  (thanks, hon, for supporting my case :-)

Finally, after some Dad pats, dog food, a walk with Dad and a treat, afterward, she perked up, but I have to say, NO ONE can sulk like a Labrador Retriever.