KIKI came limping into my room one Sunday morning.
Her limp was prominent. But as she ambled around my room that morning, it looked like it didn’t bother her as much as the sight bothered me. She looked happy and left a trail of drool and dirt wherever she went. There were a lot of slobbery kisses that morning.
Kiki is my one-year-old Belgian Malinois mix—just in case you’re wondering who was slobbering.
Her limping had me in a bit of a worried, mother hen frenzy: Was anything broken? Did she suffer a sprain? Was there a cut on her paw? Is she going to limp forever? Was she in pain? Homaygaaad, my poor baby!
Suffice to say, in my usually peaceful Sunday morning, I was a bit panicky.
We couldn’t take her to the nearby vet since they were closed on Sundays and getting a ride to the vet a few towns over was a bit of a challenge. We ended up staying at home and just keeping an eye on the limping Kiki.
Since we couldn’t go to the vet, I ended up buying Kiki her favorite dog food and giving her some hugs and love at night. She happily took everything in, limping from bed to food bowl to hugs. We’d do this like clockwork every night after coming home from work.
Eventually, it did turn out to be just a sprain. Her limp became less prominent over time. Kiki was getting better.
I came home one evening discovering her limp was completely gone. It was a welcome development until I quickly find out how Kiki was actually milking the whole situation. Little stinker.
When I picked up her food bowl, she quickly raised her front paw and started limping. She sat down in front of me looking up expectantly with her front paw raised and an excited glint in her eyes.
After placing the food bowl across her, she made a mad dash towards the food bowl, limp forgotten. She went through the night and the following morning without a limp. The process of fake limping repeated itself the following night when I prepared her food. Before and after eating her dinner, she was just fine.
I’ve been played.
My puppy had me eating right out of her palms, err, paws.
As I think about the drama incident with my dog, I think in real life we’ve all been played once or twice by somebody—may it be our own pets, family members, friends, teachers, random strangers, the sari-sari store owner, co-workers, or the government. While there are many signs for us to pick up, I guess it’s a matter of keeping an eye open and a good understanding of what’s happening, so we won’t get played.
Funny how a puppy can raise such deep thinking sometimes. But then again – perhaps I’m just overthinking Kiki’s world-class acting stint. Or not. Either way, my dog is one heck of an actor.