Me Vs Dog (establishing boundaries...part 1)

For context setting; the family has now got its first pet dog. His name is Lucky (nearly Tin…as in “Tin Tin”; smile inducing for reasons that will be highlighted in another article) as chosen by Mum. He was a rescue dog and only 6 months old weighing a mini 2 kg when we first got him. He is now 10 kg, has more real estate in the family home than I do and we cannot imagine life without him. This is a short story covering the starting of a journey of how he went from being “my” dog to now being Dad’s second in command.  With me being relegated to a lower rank, equal – at best – with Lucky.

So, Lucky arrived at the family home, very shy and obviously in shock at having made the second relocation from his original home in the last month. One of the perks of having a family office was that Lucky could accompany the family throughout the day and night; he would not ever be left alone for long periods of time.

This story takes place in the office which needs a bit of scene setting to enable you to fully visualize what occurred. The office team is made up of myself (new member and constantly reminded of how much I still have to learn). Mum and Dad (the bosses) who have been running a small sized successful enterprise for the best part of my life.

Picture the office with Dad’s desk directly behind mine. Such that, when I am working I have my back to him but he can see my screen from where he sits. I then have to swivel round to speak to him etc. Hopefully that’s enough to get going.

Oh oh! One more note: dad has this office chair that we have always referred to as the Boss chair – its all leather and wood and blah blah, you get the picture. He is the only one that sits on the chair as he is rightly the Boss (as much as mum allows anyway!). On to the story…

Within days of Lucky arriving in the family, he quickly established who the leader was (Dad and Mum) and who discounted as mere pack filler. He would follow the folks around with a particular fondness of dad and then frequently snub me (I might possibly be making more of this than was the actual case but man it was real!).

Now, in the first few weeks at the office I noticed that he would always go near the Boss chair but never close enough to touch it. My theory being that he saw it as the leaders’ throne and only the leader could sit in it. However, something peculiar happened on one day when dad left for an offsite meeting.

I was typing away and got that feeling you get when you think someone is watching you. I looked around and there was Lucky sitting on the Boss chair and he was eyeballing me! I was taken aback, this dude never went near the chair and now here he was sitting upright and just staring at me.

I asked him to get down….no reaction. I raised my voice, as per the tips given by the Vets and Kennel keepers, again to no avail! I then tried to stare him out, he simply kept hold of the stare but did not move a muscle. In the end I had to physically pick him up and put him down.

This same thing happened over the next week and I could not figure out why he would not get anywhere near the chair and then when dad was out he would get on and stare me out. It was only after researching and asking around that I understood what was happening. In dad’s absence he was establishing himself as the Leader of the pack and naturally (for him) saw his rightful place as sitting in the throne of the Boss chair!

The little so and so was trying to leap frog me in the pecking order! I can’t say I am proud of my reaction, even now I have just deleted several expletives when recalling how I felt at this blatant power grab! But he had to be put back in place and normal order set again.

To cut a long story short, I spent two weeks working out that physically moving him or raising my voice to set him straight was kind of loosing the battle before I even started. I then tried a few different tricks but again he would jump straight on to the chair as soon as dad left the office. It should be noted that this battle was privately taking place between me and Lucky and no one else in the family knew what was going on.

The idea of how to “win” and beat Lucky came to me one night. It was pure Machiavellian genius and put to use all those power games learned in years of corporate life and reading Art of War (esque) books.

The plan was executed:

Dad left to go to the washroom, I made out he was leaving for a meeting – I jingled his keys and said a few things in a tone that suggested it would be a few hours before we met again. All the while Lucky was watching and as soon as dad exited, there he was on the seat.

This time I did not react and pretended not to notice him on the chair, all the while keeping my back to him and waiting for the plan to unfold. I caught a reflection that told me he was up to his normal staring match and he was eyeballing the back of my head whilst sitting resolutely upright.

Now, usually there a door bell that rings that tells Lucky that dad is back and he jumps off the seat and back to his bed just in time before anyone else knows he was the stand in Boss.

However, there is no such door bell attached to the washroom – and the poor pup did not know which way to run…hide….jump or disappear when dad, Lucky’s leader and rightful owner of the Boss chair suddenly reappeared in the office. He quickly scarpered and hid under the sheets of his bed hoping that he would not be put straight. Funnily, dad was oblivious to what just happened as he was on the phone and continued with his notes.

At this point, I turned in my chair to face Lucky and did the universal two finger sign to suggest I was on to him and would be watching him (imagine De Niro in the Fockers movie).

He has since not set foot (paw) on that seat.

Round One to me!

It should be noted at this point that friends have usually reacted in a “you’re special aren’t you Harjeet” or mock congratulatory fashion upon hearing this story.

I will write to you as I say to them that I am not (overly) proud of my actions but order had to be established!