How Zephyr Helps

Charis is coming to spend the night and the day tomorrow!  Hooray!  I got out the vacuum to clean before she comes.  The vacuum is Zephyr's most hated enemy, and her motto is:  "Any friend of my enemy is my enemy, too!"  So, she hates the closet where the vacuum lives, and she also hates the DVDs that live in the closet with the vacuum.  In fact, just picking up a DVD makes her race to the closet, barking fiercely.  Being a smart dog (well, if you discount hating an inanimate, harmless object!) she has actually found a method to help control herself:  When I start to vacuum, she grabs a toy and begins to shake it while growling murderously.  The more the vacuum moves, the more ferociously she growls and shakes.  You can practically hear her snarling: "I'm gonna rip your lips off!  I'm gonna tear you from limb to limb!"

My theory is that she believes that the vacuum is a dangerous beast and that she's trying to protect us from it.  So she's actually being helpful!  Well, in her mind!  Unfortunately, before she discovered the toy scapegoat method, she actually bit into the trim around the vacuum closet, which I don't consider helpful!  So obviously, we encourage her to vent her feelings on the nearest toy.  Here she is, busy helping me get ready for Charis' visit.


You can see why our motto around here is: "Never a dull moment!" Maybe you can also see why my house gets pretty dirty sometimes before I screw up my courage enough to get out the vacuum!