Saturday Morning Stare-Down From 4-On-The-Floor

I usually wake up before Murphy Dog does. This morning is no different…at 4am I start staring at the ceiling wondering if I should get to the gym early, pick up my phone and internet surf, or just turn over and try to get a few more minutes of sleep.

Murphy likes to announce that he is awake with a shake and rattle of the various tags he adorns. This is followed by a few minutes of silence, where I have difficulty tracking just what in fact he’s up to.

It’s then when I feel The Big Stare.

I look to my side of the bed, and there he is, looking like a furry muppet ninja, sitting and staring directly at me.

Murphy has lived in this house for almost 3 years now, and I still cannot figure out just what he is trying to accomplish with The Big Stare. I have however, narrowed it down to 3 possibilities:

1) “Can you just lift me onto the bed? It's way to early for me to make that sort of acrobatic leap. Do I look like a gymnast to you?"

2) “Hey, tall food dispensing machine guy, any chance you can hook me up with some snacks? Nobody’s lookin..and I dont see the need for the song and dance of doing a trick for you. Lets just cut out that middle man and you place the food directly in my mouth and I will let you go back to sleep.”

3) “Hey buddy, I have no sense of time, and apparently you are awake..so..lets go out and let me sniff some pee. It’s more fun than you think!”

Perhaps he also knows that this “Big Stare” works very well on my Catholic guilt, for nine times out of ten..he gets what he wants. I find myself straining abdominal muscles lifting his 23 pounds up on the bed, or searching for a few snacks he will enjoy, or wandering out on to the cold dark 2nd street, leash in hand desperately hoping that Peets is open.