Family Night Is Not For Dogs.

We had family night in the living room tonight. We didn't let the dogs participate. We don't like our dogs in the living room. We want one piece of carpet in our home to stay nice and clean. So when we went into the living room and sat down and our dogs came trotting in after us, we immediately told them to go sit on the laminate flooring.

Mckay seemed okay with it. Maxwell didn't like it.

Here's an account of what he did while Zack was giving his lesson.

First he goes and gets a bone and "accidentally" drops it on the edge of the carpet. Then he slowly lays down in front of it and starts to chew. We are in the middle of singing the opening hymn before I realize he's snuck his way clear over to the couch.

He is led back off the carpet.

He stares at us for awhile, occasionally taking a break to sniff the edge of the carpet.

He leaves and from the kitchen we hear the familiar "twang" of the door stop on the back door. His way of telling us he "needs" to go outside.

We ignore it.

It twangs again, this time repeatedly.

Zack gets up and lets him out.

He stands outside and stares into the wind, sniffing all the while. Zack lets him back in.

We resume the lesson. From the kitchen comes the sounds of Maxwell trying to get Mckay to play with him. (Growling, pawing on the floor, etc.)

He goes downstairs and it gets really quiet. We call for him to come because we don't trust him down there alone. He comes bounding up the stairs and trots towards the couch. The little sneak- he tricked us into calling him to us! We lead him back off the carpet.

A few minutes later Maxwell comes in with his ball and proceeds to "accidentally" drop it on the carpet.

He finally gives up, slumps to the ground, and stares at us.

The lesson is finally over and we give the puppies a treat for enduring our lack of attention.