"Okay, Sandy, you watch the house while we're gone. And don't you and Gracie have any wild parties either!" is sometimes what my husband tells our chocolate lab dog and our fat black cat as we leave to go somewhere for a few hours. One time when we came back the house was more cluttered than it had been. I looked around, there was an empty package of cookies torn up on the floor. Then I looked up and saw our couch. My husband's favorite sunken place on the couch had mud all over it. Then I went to my bedroom there were muddy paw prints all over my bed! I went and told my husband, "Danny, I think Sandy had a party while we were gone. Then I told him what I saw. Everyone laughed.

Then I began to picture it in my head. As soon as we leave Sandy grabs a Mountain Dew out of the fridge and some cookies, jumps into my husband's spot and begins to channel surf with the remote. It's just as if a boss was gone and the employee gets to swing around in his big chair. Sandy knows the "leader of the pack"* has left and so it's as if she has now taken over the "alpha male" position in our "den". Then when she tires of that she runs to our bedroom and starts jumping on our bed as high as she can. Since she knows I am the "alpha female" of the pack, this is also a delight for her.

But in real life I know our dog, most of all, loves to be around her family of humans. One time when I was home alone and quietly sitting in our little orange recliner watching a country music channel. Sandy walked up to the couch where my husband and children pile up to watch TV and began howling. It was a lonely sad cry and she did it twice. It was unbearable for me to hear her wail out in dog language like that. I really don't get into petting dogs or letting them rub their wet nose on my face but I couldn't ignore her desperate cry for attention. So I told her to "Come." and petted her for awhile then she sat on the floor by me.

The old saying that goes, "A dog is a man's best friend" is even more true for boys like my son Samuel. One time he got in trouble and my husband made him sleep on the bottom bunk instead of the top one. During this time he became attached to Sandy sleeping at the foot of his bed. Sam's been on the bottom bunk ever since. His punishment ended up becoming a reward.

At bedtime I'll watch him. He'll tell Sandy to "Come." and then he will cradle our 40 pound dog in his arms and give her a big hug. Samuel smiles a contented smile while she closes her eyes and gives him lots of dog kisses.

Sandy loves her home. She considers herself privileged to come and go into our "pack's den" whenever she chooses. Even though this leaves annoying muddy dog prints on our floor a lot, her immense love and excitement in being a part of our family makes up for it. Considering that we got Sandy free from a Wal-mart parking lot, picked her out several brothers and sisters, was the runt and in poor health, it's makes me glad to know her life is much better now.

*Leader of the pack, den, alpha male, alpha female are all terms of dog psychology we learned from watching a dog special with John Ritter. Dogs think of families as if they are a pack of wolves.