January, 2003

Dear God,

Casey has recently come to live with you. I know he is happy there, with you and all his friends. But there are some things you should know about him.

In the morning, he will never force you to get up before you want to, but he will lay his head by yours and stare at you until you wake up. When you do get up, he will race you to the kitchen and stand right by the cookie jar, smiling and wagging his tail. This means he’d like a biscuit, so could you please give him one?

After that, he usually likes to go for a short walk around the yard, but likes to come in pretty fast, because he’s very, very hungry in the morning, and really looks forward to his breakfast. It would be great if you could feed him rather quickly.

When you play the radio, don’t be surprised if he perks up a little to some of the tunes. He especially likes Poney Maroney, and he likes to dance to that one . . . I’ve always been his dancing partner, but do you think you could dance with him sometimes, until I get there? Just to Poney Maroney would be enough God. He knows a lot of dance steps.

I’m sure he’s told you by now that he is an expert therapy dog. He really isn’t an expert, but he’s pretty good. He tends to get bored with the older folks, and will sometimes rudely walk away from them before they really want him to go. But if you could let him visit children occasionally, that would help.

Casey talks a lot God . . . he has A LOT of different expressions and sounds, depending on what he has to say. You’ll learn to sort them out, if you pay a bit of attention to him. He expects to be listened to, because he has a lot to say and he feels it’s very important. It would be nice if you could find some time to listen to him.

Around mid-afternoon, Casey will ask you to play ball with him. He would like you to hit the ball with the tennis racket, so he can chase after it. He especially likes the latex balls, that make little squishy sounds. Do you think you could hit that kind of ball to him?

Oh, and Casey is a very good assistant manager God. He will let you know if anyone is misbehaving. He’ll whine and stare straight at you when that is happening, so you must be sure to go and investigate when he does that. For example, when he was here, he always told me when Smokey the Cat was chewing on the shade cords, because he knew that was not allowed. He will do the same types of things for you . . . all you have to do is tell him what it is to watch out for.

Now he also likes to occasionally help himself to food on the counter. But he will usually ask first . . . he puts his paws up on the counter, gives a little woooooof, and gives you a great big smile. That means to please share something with him . . . it’s OK if you do; he won’t get spoiled.

Sometimes, if he needs a little extra attention, he’ll pretend something is wrong with him. For example, if he limps off and on throughout the day, and you pay extra special attention to him because of that, he may continue to do it for a few days. But if you pay very close attention on day two or day three, you’ll probably figure out he’s just playing with you. You can tell him to stop after a few days, and he will.

Oh, and if you’re sitting in your favorite chair relaxing at night, he may go to the door and ask to go out. When you get up to let him out, sometimes he’ll run back really fast and steal your chair. Don’t get mad at him God . . . he just wants a biscuit, so if you give him one, he’ll give you back your chair.

You should also know that he likes to be the one who walks by your side . . . when you go to get the mail, or to talk to the handyman, or walk over to a neighbor’s house; he wants it to be him, not any of the other dogs up there.

Oh, and this last one is very, very important . . . he really hates riding in a crate in the car. It makes him queasy. Please God, when you go for a ride, could you let him sit up front with you, and rest his head on your lap?

I think that about covers it God, but just one more thing

. . . could you tell him I love him, and that I miss him.

Thanks,

Casey’s Mom, Ann Marie

Abby