The kid has brought something to this arrangement which is hard to make sense of.
On one hand he’s funny sometimes. He does really silly things and he behaves like a kook. Every night after his walk, for example, he gets his feet washed and he runs around the living room and dining room at a gallop like a fully-fledged lunatic. Once, twice, six times around the furniture as if there’s some strange benefit to this self-imposed exercise regimen. Then he stands there, panting (obviously) and looking at us all like we’re edible or something.
“Hey Pal,” I said, “you turn your hungry attention somewhere else.”
“Woof!”
Other times he gets goofy and makes like he wants to play with one of us, except that he forgets that we are not specially paid and compensated stunt critters – we are sensitive and loving and not in the least bit aggressive. That said, I’m not afraid to butt heads. I slap pretty hard when I have to, and sometimes I have to, to keep him in line. He respects me, I think.
He’d better!
SPCSA - Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Stuffed Animals 