The Power of a Tease

No, it's not what you're thinking. I am not a tease. My puppy, however, is the world's greatest tease. And I feel like I should learn something from her. I really want to pet her. You can tell she wants to be pet, too. And yet, she curls up on the floor just out of reach of a casual scritch and stares at me. If I make the effort to lean over and attempt to pat her, she wiggles just out of reach and you can just hear her mentally giggling. And yet, this makes me want to pet her more. I don't get fed up. I don't throw up my hands and say, "Fine! If you want to be pet, you know where to come." No. I stop what I'm doing and move closer. She inches away. I move again. She dances off out of the room. At this point, you'd think I would give up and go back to my regularly scheduled activity. But I don't. Now I have decided that I must pet the dog. It's what will make this portion of my day complete. So off I wander in persuit of a dog who clearly has turned her desire to be scritched into a game that is complete with me chasing her and feeling like it was all my idea in the first place.

How is it that I'm suceptible to the mind games of a puppy?

They actually did a whole show on Dead Like Me about this -- though they called it "Withholding the Love." And, at the end of the day, one of the central themes to French Kiss (very good Meg Ryan flick for those who don't know) is along these lines as well. But these situations both dealt with the idea with interaction between people. Who knew it existed in the animal kingdom too? Apparantly there is more truth than humor to this phenomenon.

That said, she has snuck back into the room and, perhaps if I show enough disinterest, she will let me pet her, which is all I really wanted in the first place.