I woke up one morning, rolled over to a familiar sight, and blearily took a photo. Looking at it later I had a great thought—dogs are awesome. They are awesome for so many reasons and I thought I’d list them. Since I’m feeling ambitious, I thought I’d try and think of at least 101 reasons dogs are awesome, and if you have any ideas, feel free to leave a comment. I’m going to accompany each entry with a photo I took myself, just to see what I’ll plan (and next time I’ll try to use a real camera, not my phone!). So, with that said, in no particular order here’s the first.

 

reason #1 why dogs are awesome:

You can’t hit the snooze button on that face

We all do it, especially at this time of the year when your clock is telling you it’s time to get up but the darkness outside says stay in your bed where it’s warm and comfy and in no way involves going outside to freeze your unmentionables off. It’s a battle, a battle one can easily loose, resulting in lateness, which results in forgetting stuff, which in my case can result in doing bodily harm to others when I show up at work without my coffee or scaring little children if I wander among the general public without putting my face on. It can also result in sleeping in until the better part of the afternoon on a lazy Saturday, which sounds great until about 9pm on Saturday night when you realize you have no plans for the evening and the only thing you’ve accomplished that day is to clean out a bag of cheezies.
     Thankfully, dogs have got that shit under control. I mean, look at that face. Do you know what he’s saying to me in this picture? I do, like some sort of psychic, dog whispering super star I have divined his thoughts for your reading pleasure. Dogs only reciprocate this psychic ability first thing in the morning, at meal time, or when their ball rolls under the couch. What he’s saying is, “Mom, why are you still lying there? Is there something wrong? There must be something wrong because it’s morning and you should get up. I would really like it if you would get up. Here, I’ll help, I’ll tug at the covers so you can get out. I’ll even lick your face clean so you can save time in the shower later. Aren’t I helpful? Are you ready to get up now? Please get up. Watch, I’ll demonstraight by jumping in and out of the bed. I don’t think I can get any clear than that. You should get up now. Please? Please?”
     How can you resist? The correct answer is you can’t, of course you can’t, because if you did you would be a horrible, soulless monster that made a puppy cry. Or pout, or whine, or something. Either way you come off as a bad person, and no one wants that. Thus, thanks to your dog’s merciless, and, frankly, entirely calculated manipulation of your good will, you drag your butt from under your fur-infested comforter and get on with your morning. And thank goodness you did! Because guess what, mornings aren’t so bad. In fact, if you wake up early enough, they’re downright awesome (nearly as awesome as your dog, but not 101 times as awesome). The light (when it finally shows up) is beautiful. The world is just getting started, so everything is relaxed. You can enjoy your day more fully knowing that you haven’t waisted any extra precious moments hiding under the covers.
     Go out and enjoy your day, courtesy of your favourite furry pal. Your life is glad you did.