Spring Break According to Dog: Just Stay Home

Columnist’s note: This week’s column was dictated by Speedo Sullivan, the columnist’s family dog, whose roles include family muse, office mate, snuggling companion and reality check deliverer.

It’s been the perfect spring break for this dog. I’m so glad my humans listened to me.

For weeks, the five humans in my family spoke of spring break vacations their friends were taking to Disneyland, Lake Tahoe, San Diego and even South Carolina.

Would my humans need to compete? Would they feel the urge to fill their week with travel? Or would they take a lesson from Dog and learn how to live in the moment?

I feared they’d plan a trip and come home more frenzied than they were before they left.

Of course, if the humans did leave town, I'd be able to spend the week with my girlfriend, Molly, a cute, blonde labradoodle who lives in Val Vista. We've been an item for a couple of years.

But what I really wanted was to spend the nine days of spring break teaching my humans how to take it easy in my universe – which comprises Pleasanton and a few outlying towns.

You see, as much as I love my humans, these people are always in such a rush.

Between their careers, carpools, homework, school bell schedules, tests, projects, dance practice, errand running, softball practice, baseball practice, music lessons, swim practice, martial arts, band practices, housekeeping and paying bills, it’s a wonder they're able to fit in the 25-minute family meal five or six nights a week.

What I can’t understand, however, is how my humans keep going all day without naps.

How can they do without the early morning nap? For me, that nap follows the wake up nap and is important for recharging after a nine-hour nighttime slumber.

On a typical day, my mid-morning nap follows breakfast and a brisk walk either at Del Prado Park, the Sports Park or the Tennis Park. This next nap is imperative for storing energy needed to manage late morning duties.

Those activities are quickly followed by the necessary late morning nap, when I recharge for lunch and an exhausting stretch of time chasing squirrels or the two nests worth of fledgling mourning doves in the back yard whose mom and dad are helping them find their wings.

I don’t know how my humans function without naps between all their activities. They worry me sometimes.

For instance, it's imperative for me to stockpile energy with a mid-afternoon nap before guarding the house from the front window, where I bark at neighbors or mail carriers. After that, it’s time for my real job to begin.

2:45 p.m. is when the Mom human stops all her work at the computer and runs around on a frenzied set of chores between schools, sporting activities, the kitchen appliances, the kids' homework and study sessions, trips to dance studios and stops at various stores I’m not allowed to enter on account of my species.

Sometimes she even ducks into the home office to work between activities, when all she really needs is  a nap. How does she manage it all? With my help, that’s how.

My job is to be here at the house and greet everyone with a smile at each coming and going between 2:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. It’s exhausting and naps rarely last longer than five minutes. But the rewards are endless. My humans really appreciate me.

By sunset on a typical day, I have time for only two more naps – the evening nap and the nighttime nap, which are followed by a 20-minute stretch of playtime with whichever humans are still awake.

As hectic as my routine sounds, my humans are busier, which is why I wanted them to stay home for spring break. Thankfully, they heeded my advice.

Many of my spring break dreams came true: Play dates with crowds of energetic children, runs through various parks, hikes at two regional parks (including a wild goose chase at Shadow Cliffs) and spontaneous gatherings with dog friends and human friends alike.

Sleeping in and not having to wake up the kids before dawn for school was a treat, as was sneaking refreshing licks of frosty cones at the Meadowlark Dairy after long, hot hikes.

As for those naps, the humans are still learning. But I was happy that during spring break they weren’t as consumed by those little screens they carry around, and on spring break evenings they all congregated around the bigger screen to snuggle with me on the sofas.

Life in this dog's universe is good.