November 27, 2003
An act of protest: refusing to put her right foot all the way through the leg of her red coat.
9:30 p.m.
As much as I love the red coat, and everyone else loves the red coat (we get many compliments from humans that feel that my dog is better-dressed than they are), Dusty is not a fan of the red coat. As the weather has become colder, and especially since her haircut, I've been putting the coat on more and more. And Dusty has been devising ways to avoid it.
For the first time in her life, Dusty *refused* to come when called. She just stood in the middle of the room looking at me with an expression that clearly said: "You don't actually think I'm going to walk over to you when you have that red coat in your hand do you?" When I bribed her with food, I could actually see the wheels turning in her head as she considered the pros and cons: "Yeah, that's definitely a treat, but the red coat is there too. But I'm hungry. But I hate that red coat."
When I finally got the red coat on, she refused to stick both her legs through the holes. She stood there, three-legged for a full five minutes before deciding that it wasn't worth the battle. We go through this same battle every night.
Nothing is worse than the look of betrayal she gives me, though, when the coat is finally on. In the hallway, she presses herself against the wall, as if to hide so no-one will see her in the red coat.
I anticipate many coat-related battles this winter. And I haven't even *tried* to put the Mutluks on yet!