Mocha Speaks

One of the shows I remember from the kids' childhood was "Martha Speaks" about a talking dog.

Mocha may not have had the letters from alphabet soup take a wrong turn to her brain, but she communicates as clearly as Martha.

In a recent memory I don't want to lose, she was upstairs in the attic with Buds and me. We sleep up there in our cozy space whenever the weather allows.

Mocha's internal code of ethics insists that she cannot jump up on the bed to sleep with us unless she has been invited. Normally that means at about 2:30 a.m. she tires of her own bed and she moves over to stand on the side of our bed and informs us she's ready to be on the bed with us. Deep rumbles are her indication that she'd like an invite.

After making those sounds a few times, one of us wakes up enough to invite her up onto the bed.

That's what typically happens.

On this night in the attic last week, the fan was turned up too loud, so when she made her 2 a.m. request to board the bed, we didn't hear her. She asked multiple times, but was ignored. Eventually, since she wants to feel wanted, she had to resort to one short, sharp bark. This unusual sound woke us up enough to realize she was standing by the bed, giving us the intense look.

One pat of the bed later, and she was settling herself in between us, happy that we finally listened.

Do not tell me this dog is not living her best life.