Trust: a charge or duty imposed in faith or confidence or as a condition of some relationship.

Granted, our lab, Queenie, is just a dog. But I’ve always felt we have something special, she and I. A kind of human-dog, homo sapien-canine, owner-pet understanding that few others ever have. In fact, I think of her as a person. We can talk about anything.

I tell her about my day or gripe to her when I have a problem. She always listens intently without being judgmental or interrupting me with unsolicited advice. Then it’s her turn. She growls about her day, like how many squirrels she chased, number of butts sniffed, what bushes were peed on, or how much deer poop she’s eaten, you know, all that charming dog stuff.

So, it goes without saying that we have a high level of trust in each other. I know she will be there to bark before some stranger even gets to the door. I can count on that wake-up call at 6 AM in the morning, even when I don’t put one in. I can count on a cold, wet nose nudging my arm if I forget about nightly “treat” time. She will put complete trust in me that she will always have water in the bowl, a comfy bed and will get to ride around town on errands. She trusts that my wife, Patty, will prepare her breakfast and dinner every day. Here again, the trust thing.

Complete and utter trust. That’s why what happened this morning was so totally unexpected. I had gotten up early (6:00 am – go figure), taken her out and since Patty was sleeping in, I fed her breakfast. It was a beautiful morning so I wanted to go out to the local jogging trail for my morning exercise. I exited quietly so as not to awaken Patty. When I returned, Patty, now arisen, said she and Queenie had just had a nice little walk and enjoyed breakfast together. “Breakfast”?, I asked. Yes, the Q dog had managed to wrangle another breakfast without saying a word about her earlier repast. When confronted about this deceit, the look said it all.

Oh, we’ll still be the closest of buddies. We’ll still tell each other about our day. We’ll still run errands together and there will always be that treat time. But trust? Let’s just say we’ll be working on that for a while. In the meantime, I’ll be sure to leave a note.