Dogs and your Carpets

We need to talk about rugs. Maybe you call them carpets, but they are all the same thing. Dogs think of them as an extension of grass, lawn, branches and weeds, and thereby need to be peed on, pooped on, chewed on, played on and slept on. People seem to have ideas about what rugs are, different than what dogs do. People think they are soft underfoot - yeah, well, OK, I get that. People think they are colorful. Huh? People thing they are nice looking. Well, anyhow, people think that rugs are lots of things, but none include peeing, chewing, pooping on or playing with. Sometimes they will go along with 'sleeping on' if you're lucky. Most of our house has floors made of wood, but that doesn't mean Mom and Dad don't like rugs. No, there are rugs all over the place. Mom calls them throw rugs, but really, I have never seen her throw one. There is a rug by the front door, there is a rug by the back door, there are rugs in front of every desk, there is a rug in front of all the fire places, there are rugs in front of the sinks, there is a rug by the bathtub [burrrrr - I hate the bathtub]. There are rugs all around the beds. There are rugs outside at the doors. There are even a couple hung on the wall. Mom says George Washington slept on one - I don't know what that means.

Dogs have another way of looking at rugs that people might not know about. Rugs can be signals. Signals to you about what dogs want. When I sit on the rug by the back door, Mom and Dad know that I need to go outside to pee. If I do that, and they don't notice, a "Woof" is permitted. Ungus can do the same thing, but he might not need to pee - he just might want to go outside to check that we haven't been invaded by aliens - but Mom and Dad really want him to sit on the rug by the back door only when he needs to pee - like I do. Sitting on the rug in front of the kitchen sink means, "My water dish is empty." Sitting on the rug on the patio means, "I want to chase a ball." Sitting on the rug by the TV means, "I would like a share of the peanut butter you are wolfing down." Sitting on the rug by the front door means,"The post has arrived." Sitting on the rug at the end of the bed means, "I need my g'night cookie and take a nap." The most important rug in the house, though, is the "feed me" rug. From this rug I can see the refrigerator, the pantry, the shelf with doggie treats on it, the stove, and the whole kitchen floor; I know when the fridge is opened, a treat jar is opened, the pantry is opened and I'm ready for the opportunity to zoom in on some accidentally (or in Moms case, sometimes intentional) tidbit that drops to the floor. Ungus sits on the "feed me" rug, too, but he hasn't quite figured out how important and powerful the "feed me" rug is. But he'll catch on. Check and see if your dog has a "feed me" rug, too. I'll bet he does. Ah Ha - Dad just dropped a piece of roast, ZOOM I got it! I'll let Ungus get the next one - if he's fast enough!