Oh, to come back as one of my dogs!

So, I’m watching the dogs be dogs. Some are sleeping indoors; some are catching a little winter sun. In a few minutes I’m going to shake a box of dog biscuits and they will all go nuts with enthusiasm. How great to be a dog with a home. Do you ever think that you’d like to come back in your next life as one of your dogs? Hang out, nap, chase balls and bark your head off?

What the heck! Why wait and risk the vagaries of the afterlife? For all you know, you may be slotted for a turn as a bug or maybe even a politician! Why not just start behaving like one of your dogs right now?

Imagine what it would be like to live your life as if you were a dog. What if all of our friends and co-workers decided to behave like dogs, too?

Hmmmmm …

For me, first of all, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. Instead, I’d be snoozing on a soft bed or taking in some sun ... ahhh.

OK. I’m back (still in dog dreamy form) and I must say a nap right after breakfast is a pretty good idea. After I finish my work here (shredding documents), I trot on up to Angel Village. That’s where the Best Friends staff lunch room is and where most of the visitors and volunteers stop in for a bite (oops!) as well.

My colleagues (most of whom have just had a pre-lunch nap of their own) and I are deliriously excited to meet all the volunteers who are helping out at the Sanctuary. We don’t greet them with the decorum befitting the founders and staff of Best Friends — or maybe behaving like dogs is proper decorum for us. Rather, we run out to the parking lot and swarm around arriving cars with lots of yipping, playing and carrying on. As the new faces emerge from cars, we run en masse to greet, smell, challenge and generally take the measure of every guest. Actually, I think I’ll just jump into that car while the door is open and get them to take me for a ride around the parking area.

Next: Can’t wait to get to lunch. It’s a complete mess, but lots of fun. Just imagine the buffet line! Hopefully, the kitchen staff dog-people don’t eat it all before setting it out. Doggie etiquette transforms the polite but animated conversations that usually dominate the room. Today, there are a few minutes of frantic eating followed by something that looks like musical chairs but, in fact, is the ritual seizure of other people’s plates in order to finish their food (just to remind them where they stand). The real alpha types spend the whole lunch hour doing this, but for most bumping one or two people off their chairs will do nicely, thank you.

OK! The plates are clean … what now? Of course, we all start whirling around the lunch room and then make a mass exit to run through the trees hoping to scare up some small wildlife.

I guess it’s nap time again.

And that pretty much sums up the day, with maybe a little ball chasing, toy destruction, an afternoon walk and some more treats thrown in.

Now, that’s the life! Won’t it be great when every dog (and maybe someday every person) can have that life?