Ask Aunt Foley

Dear Aunt Foley:  We had a man come to work in our house recently and my siblings and I got locked in a room.  Why should we get locked away?  It’s our house.  - Downunder Daisy

That is one of the most aggravating decisions parents make.  They love us, they are proud of us, when we are walking with them they love to show us off to passerby’s, but when a stranger comes in the house to do work suddenly we are Anne Frank.  

We are trapped in the room while a human with all sorts of interesting smells walks through our house and the potential for wonderful scratches, rubs, and dare we say treats are lost.  And for what reason?

Because suddenly we have become an embarrassment to our parents, who have become convinced that we might attack the man for being in our house?  Does the fact that a strange man comes into the house to work on the plumbing or something electrical turn us into ferocious beasts?  Or are our parents afraid that we will (heaven forbid) get in the way?

Do they ever consider what a joy seeing us might be to these hard working laborers going from house to house with only frustrated humans with a broken appliance in their past and a big bill in their future to talk to?  We would not get in their way, we would make their day.  The joy we bring humans could even lead to a break on their bill.  

Plus no one knows the stuff that needs to be repaired in a house like we do.   We are home all the time, we are low to the ground, like many of the appliances, we have great noses and ears and can tell by sound and smell what is wrong with anything in the house.  By tail wags, eye movement, ear wiggling, and use of paws we could communicate to the repairman and save them time and the family money.

But no our shortsighted parents keep us locked up in a room.  The dog deprived repairman becomes grumpy because he would love to see us, he works slower, and because he is wondering what we look like, he becomes careless, not fixing the appliance properly, and leaves the house sad, while our parents are sad about the big bill, and when we are let out we run out of the room barking trying to bring the man back so he can see us and repair what he missed but he’s gone.

And when he returns a week later to fix what he missed we will once again be locked in the room and the vicious circle will start again.