by Lisa Termin

Created on: August 20, 2009

How would one go about apologizing to your dog? You know, like if you accidentally step on a paw or squash her in the door. I don't speak dog and I can tell you they do not speak any English, which is my primary language, and they do not speak any other languages known to man that I have witnessed.

I unwittingly slapped my poor Betty hard in the snout while I was reaching for an oreo one day and I looked at her and she looked at me and I said, "I"m sorry!" and she just still looked at me, all wounded and such, or so I figured. I gragged her up and pet her close and puppy-wuppied her and said it again, "I'm soooooooo sowwy my wittle Betty Wetty Wetty Wetty! Momma didn't mean to hurt my wittle precious wecious wittle ittie wittle puppy wuppy!" There was inflection in my voice that I won't perform for anyone but her. By the time I got to the end of my apology, that same said inflection would have been ear-piercing to anyone else that might have been standing around, gaulking.

She wagged her tail and stuck her tongue out at me and licked my chin. Was that her acceptance of my heart-felt apology? Because you just never can tell, as I said before, we speak different languages. Or, was that her way of displaying the fact that she had already forgotten the incident and wondered what act she did to merit all the extra wextra attention?

Hmm. Do we humans place our emotions on our pets? I know that if someone slapped me, intentional or not, I'd better be receiving some sort of apology... and an explanation... and, yes, in some cases some very inflected words of repentance. I also know that I would not be able to forget it in four or five seconds - if ever - no matter what type of reasoning was offered. And, being the human that I am, I would probably want to slap that someone back. I really can't see myself wagging my back-end and licking that someone on the chin.

I really do think that Betty knew my hurting her was unintentional. I saw it in her eyes. She forgave me and I was redeemed all because I did in fact apologize to her. And she loves me still and I lover her still... even though I found a fresh pile of doo on the carpet not five minutes later.

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