Even though Valentine’s day has passed, love is still in the air, but it stinks! In case you didn’t know, it is skunk mating season. And yes, I barely missed another encounter with a skunk on Tuesday morning.

As you will recall last summer I got into a wrestling match with a skunk in our back yard just before dawn last summer, and got sprayed in the face. So I guess statistically I am about due again. If it wasn’t for Doc’s quick actions, we both would haven gotten sprayed again this week.

On Tuesday morning, when Doc opened up the garage door, there under the moonlight, was a rather mature Pepe` Le Pew staring right at us with his beady little eyes. Now my instinct was to lunge forward because apparently I never learn my lesson when it comes to skunks, but Doc was quicker and pulled me back into the garage by my leash while the black and white striped stinker ran way. Luckily, the love he was searching for did not look like an 82 pound Labradoodle.

Doc was relieved, but looked at me and shook her head. ” What is wrong with you Grover? Aren’t you tired of being sprayed by skunks?” What she doesn’t know, is that dogs love to chase skunks, it’s our prey instinct and except for being sprayed, it’s fun. But I knew it would be of no help to try and explain that to her. Being a therapist, Doc is all about the lessons we learn and since it was obvious I had not learned mine, that was all we talked about on the 20 minute ride to work. I hate it when she right. Yes, even dogs have egos, but that didn’t mean I would swear off skunk wrangling forever. I still have the rest of winter to have another encounter while they troll around our yard looking for love. My big advice to Doc is to keep plenty of her de-skunking potion on hand just in case.

I am not one to gossip, but today I am making an exception. Did you ever notice that no matter where you work that there are certain personalities that seem to make up the group you work with? As the therapy dog, I have all day to observe, size people up and then look for opportunities that may benefit me.

You know that one co-worker that always leaves their dirty dishes in the sink? At least you could put them down on the floor where I would be happy to lick them clean. Or what about Suzie Snacker.? As soon as she leaves the office, I sneak in to eat whatever she has dropped on the floor. But my favorites, are the fellow employees that keep snacks in their desk drawers. I know this because my smell is so acute that I can smell food from clear down the hall.

Why, just this morning after I heard one of my favorite co-workers, Von come into his office, I ran down the hall to see what food he had stashed in his drawer today. Doc was in the other end of the building and did not know I had escaped from our office. When she noticed I was gone I could hear her asking people if they knew where I was. Von responded saying” Grover’s in here trying to shake me down for snacks.”

Knowing I am not suppose to beg for food, I tried to act all innocent when she came in to the office, like I was just visiting. But she is hard to fool and Von was more than happy to let her know I had been eating potato chips. He even told her that he had to show me that the bag was empty of all chips before I would leave him alone. Well, you never know when someone may be holding out on you. Doc was not happy and told me to stop begging. I can’t help it if I’m so cute that everyone wants to feed me.

After I got caught, Doc made me go back to the office where I fell asleep. I knew I needed to get some rest before lunch time, when the staff is heating up their food in the microwave. That is when I really get some tasty eats! I really do have a wonderful life.

Did you ever have one of those mornings when you don’t feel like doing anything? I was in the middle of a fabulous dream about finding a secret room filled with dog treats, when I heard Doc’s alarm go off. I don’t care what anyone says, 4:40am is too early to get up and go anywhere, especially to work, but I Don’t make the decisions around here.

While Doc was getting dressed I decided to come up with some excuses so that I could stay home. As soon as she came into the kitchen I told her I couldn’t go to work. “Why not?” she asked with some suspicion in her voice. I started with my top excuse. ” I feel too grouchy because I did not get enough sleep. It would be better for the patient’s if I stayed home. No one wants to be around a grouchy therapy dog.” I said with all the sincerity I could muster. ” Besides”, I stammered on, I think I may be getting sick.” ” With what? ” Doc asked. ” ” I think I might have that sleeping disease Trypanosomiasis. Look how exhausted I am,” I pleaded. ” ” Nice try, Grover, but that disease is only found in Africa, you haven’t even traveled outside of Ohio. Now get up, eat your breakfast and lets go to work. No more excuses.”

I did what Doc asked me, but I was not happy about it. When we got to work, I just decided to stay in my dog bed and stew about not getting my way, when suddenly I had a thought. Since I am a full time employee I have my rights too and came up with a plan. I decided to contact that nice lady Margaret, in human resources to let her know that Doc was creating a hostile work environment for me. But while I was plotting my revenge, I must have tired myself out thinking and I fell back into a deep sleep and didn’t wake up until a patient entered the room and said to Doc “Grover sure has it easy, it must be nice to be able to sleep on the job and get fed treats all day.” And with that, I knew no one would come to my defense as a witness. Sometimes you just need to let go and move on.

Monday morning I was in the break room at work, quietly checking the contents of the kitchen trash, when I was interrupted by someone calling my name. I heard them tell someone that Amazon had left me a package. ” For me? ” I thought to myself. “That has never happened.” So I rushed down the hall as one of the psychologists was coming toward me with a fairly big box. Doc was in another office with a co-worker and upon hearing about the package, everyone’s interest was peaked. As we all gathered around to see what it was, Doc’s co-worker pulled out the scissors to open it. As I peered over the desk I could see another package inside the box all wrapped up in plastic and smooshed down flat. ” What in the heck is that? ” I thought to myself as we all curiously looked inside. There is nothing like a good mystery to start off a Monday morning.

After taking the bag out of the box, we had to open that one as well. The anticipation was starting to feel like torture as we tried to see what the gift was. I did my part by sniffing it to see if it was something tasty to eat, but it wasn’t. As Doc grabbed the thing and expanded it, it started to look like a big hamburger bun with lettuce on the top. At first I was a little leery, but when Doc explained that it was a toy to hide treats in and I would have to sniff them out, I was all on board. But the very best part, was the note included in the box from one of Doc and my patient’s that thanked me for helping them and being such a good support pooch, comforting them when they needed it.

I was so touched I teared up a little. Everyday I go to work with Doc with the intention of helping the patient’s we serve, not looking for any thanks. It was so nice to be remembered.

The rest of the day I kept Doc busy hiding treats in my new toy. Anything that includes treats is a winner in my book!