A Dog's Job

I read somewhere that a dog's job is waiting. They wait for us when we eat a meal. They wait when we go out to run errands. They wait for food. They wait to go on walks. They wait for us to give them treats. Emme is even waiting to get up in the morning. She went through a period of a few days recently where she whined to get up at 3 AM. On the advice of Darlene, the breeder, I have started telling Emme to be quiet when she wakes up at 3 AM and Emme goes back to sleep.

Yesterday Emme and Rudy had a longer than usual wait while Ken and I went to Cleveland to a Hosta Society meeting. With travel time, lunch, a business meeting, and a presentation, we were gone for about four hours. Emme stays in her crate easily all night. She also stays in it during the day when we leave the house to go out for a meal or to run errands. Usually those waits are only one to three hours. She handled four hours with no problem. She is learning her job, waiting, quite well.