After last week’s encounter with the terrible teen at the beach, I wanted to write something on a lighter, funnier note.
ELBEE Oh, it’s about me.
It’s actually about Stanley. He is half Golden Retriever but he doesn’t retrieve. He’s not even very interested in toys unless he can chew them up.
STANLEY Truthfully, I find fetch a little boring.
Now throw rugs, that’s a whole different story. He’s obsessed with them. It’s 
ironic because when he and Gus nap together, they look like a throw rug.
Stanley has a combination of Charley’s sweetness and, how shall I put it, Elbee’s goofiness.
ELBEE Excuse me. I’d call it charm.
When someone comes into the house, Stanley will eagerly greet them and then run to grab a rug from the kitchen or the bathroom. Instead of bringing it over or sneaking away with it, he will literally prance by without looking at anyone. It’s as if he wants you to see him but pretends that he doesn’t.
When my husband gets home, Stanley 
will wait a minute or two, pick up the large black rug by the kitchen sink and then strut right by him. After he deposits it in the living room, he comes back for another one. He usually drops that on top of the first one and then may go for a third.
Gus looks as if he’s waiting on his special rug to eat breakfast. He’s not. He’s guarding it so that Stanley won’t drag it into the yard.
Baffled, I asked a few of my dog people friends why they thought he was doing this. One figured that he was bored. Another said he was probably just looking for attention. A third one suggested that he didn’t like my decorating and was moving things around.
ELBEE So that’s why he was trying to order from Living Spaces.
Then it dawned on me. As the namesake of my brother Stanley, he’s living up to his legacy. Stan was a television director and a favorite of so many that he worked with. His optimism and good nature were a gift.
Charismatic and a total dog lover, he was one of the most special people in my life. He was also one of the funniest. He could literally make me laugh until I cried. We had so many inside jokes.
Sadly, my brother passed away from colon cancer over 20 years ago when he was
just 47 but his spirit is still with me. Every time that Stanley saunters by with a throw rug in his mouth, I can hear my brother’s great big laugh.
