Evey single person....dog...cat..whatever...every single one of them in our entire complex has encountered Officer Carmela. She patrols our deck and yells at anyone and anything that dares to come within the boundaries of her imagined domain....aka within the 20 feet she can actually see clearly #WonkyLeftEye. That is....until today.
Today, we were letting Fred visit with the neighbor cats 🐈 and she came dashing out our kitchen door, charged full speed barking at them....paused and play bowed and seriously you could see her go "Hey guys, long time no see?!?!" Her Dad, her brother and I watched with incredulity as she showed off her social girl skills and politely said hello to @remingtontheo as well as their mom (Susan).....it got even stranger when Officer Carmela looked at Susan and rolled over as if to say "Thuthan rub mah bellah " (Susan rub my belly). And then to push the bizarro threshold even more, at the end of the play session the Daddo told both kids to get in the house....and you know what Officer Carmela did? She calmly trotted into Susan's house....and ate the cat food...like that was "normal".. Continuing in the theme of weird things, couple of neighborhood kids came by to say hi to Fred....and Carmela who always stays 6 feet away and never wants to say hello dashed out and was the friendliest puppy...did her pirouettes...got petted by them all at the same time...dashed around with them...and harrased them for treats. WTF...where did Officer Friendly come from, and where is my reactive Officer Carmela?!?! Don't get me wrong....I'm happy...but this feels like I'm in a dream. It almost feels like she read how rough a day Fred, his Dad and I were having..his symptoms are worsening despite our best efforts...and she did the things that would shake us out of the negative headspace and into one of laughter and joy. Pups are amazing magical things. We are so thankful for them.