Sammy & Ilna - thank you for being the best - always.
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This one goes out to everyone's furry, feathered and finned best friends.
Hardwired
Cammie's feet twitched while playing catch in a dream. She was napping in a patch sunlight spilling through the window when a murmur from the crib woke her. Quickly alert - head up, ears perked, she waited until her little human rolled over and settled back into a dream of her own before relaxing.
Sighing contentedly, the large dog stood, circled on the perfect-softness-for-a-nap rug and resumed her position. Cammie loved her family. Keeping her humans safe and making sure they had fun playing was very important and she took it as seriously as ever. The little human they called Angie was getting more active and moved more steadily every day and she knew it was her job to help keep her safe, it had been since she knew Catherine was expecting a litter.
Snoozing contentedly, she didn't wake again until Catherine entered the nursery an hour later. "Hey pretty girl," she said softly as she kneeled to kiss the furry head and was rewarded with several kisses. "Her nap time's over, should we take Angie out on the beach?"
Cammie wagged her whole back end as Angie, responding to her mother's voice, woke from her afternoon nap. "Mama, out. See Cammie," the toddler stood and bounced in place.
"How about we play on the beach with Cammie? Do you want to swim?"
Cammie circled and let out a small 'woof!' as Angie said "Yay, 'wim!" The dog loved to swim in the big water and run in the sandy place outside of their house. Whether it was swimming with Steve, playing in the surf or helping Angie by nosing a ball back across the blanket as she giggled with glee, it made her happy. She paced between the nursery door and the window as Catherine grabbed a swimsuit and swim pull up.
"Look, Cammie's excited to swim, too," She said with a kiss to Angie's cheek. "But first we're gonna sit on the potty, okay?"
Cammie had heard the word potty and seen the routine enough times that she was familiar with the pattern. She circled both humans to guide them next to the small chair. Steve and Catherine praised their offspring whenever she sat on it. It took a while, but she understood now. The big humans were trying to train the little one where to 'go potty' as they called it when they'd trained her. She wasn't quite sure why humans didn't all just go outside to better mark their territory, but she had that covered for them.
Minutes later a gleeful, "Good job!" from Catherine had Angie raising both arms to yell "Yay!" while her mommy stood her up and dressed her in her bathing suit.
"Wait til we tell Daddy you made pee pee on the potty like a big girl!" She was as excited as Cammie had ever seen her and the dog pranced around and licked Angie's cheek. "Look, Cammie is proud of you, too," Catherine said and kissed them both.
"Cammie, pee puh-tee!" Angie clapped and pointed.
"That's right, you used the potty." Catherine faced the dog and smiled. "Our baby's getting big, right, pretty girl?"
"Woof!" Cammie wasn't exactly sure of those words, but if Catherine was excited and happy, so was she.
"Good girl, Cammie. C'mon, you two, let's go play on the beach."
Cammie plopped the red and yellow ball in front of Angie and backed up several paces for the seventh or eighth time. "Go!" The little girl tossed it all of three feet, laughed happily and clapped when her best friend returned it before wrapping her arms around the dog's neck in a hug.
"Good, girl," Steve patted Cammie's shoulder and lifted the ball himself. "Can Daddy have a turn, Angie?" He asked, wanting the dog to have a chance to seriously run after her usual patience with her favorite little human.
Anticipating his intent, Cammie's body tensed and she laser focused on the ball in his hand as he wound up for the throw.
"Go, Cammie!" He said as he tossed it a good 100 feet and she was off like lightning, flying over the packed sand at top speed to joyfully retrieve it.
"EEEEEE Go!" Angie's laughter echoed across the beach. Each time Steve threw the ball, Cammie returned and held it until he removed it from her mouth to repeat the action.
Once the game was done and she'd lapped up half a bowl of the fresh water that sat next to their blanket, Cammie presented them all with tongue-lolling doggie grin before sitting between Angie and the water. She snuggled close to Catherine to have her ears gently scratched while the voice that always spoke to her so lovingly murmured what a good dog she was. Grinning, Steve echoed, "Smartest dog on Oahu - I said it from day one," and ruffled the soft fur on her neck.
Later that evening the family relaxed after Angie's dinner while watching TV. Catherine slid off the sofa when Cammie sat at her feet and wrapped her in a hug. "Who's my pretty girl?" She murmured. The dog laid her head across Catherine's legs while up on the sofa, Angie snuggled against Steve who was absently singing along to the theme of Paw Patrol.
"Doggie, Cammie. See!" Angie pointed to the screen and her parents shared a smile.
"That is a doggie like Cammie, good job, baby girl." Catherine gently squeezed her daughter's foot and turned more fully to smirk at Steve. "You're singing it again."
His attempt at indignancy failed. "I am not."
"You totally were." She ran a soft hand over the dog's head and shoulders and snorted. "Wasn't he, Cammie?"
"Don't gang up on me …" He began but couldn't hold back a laugh of his own when Angie giggled as though she understood the repartee. "Okay, maybe I was … humming." He kissed the tousled curls on their little girl's head and paused a minute to smile at his wife. "Maybe."
"Ha!" Catherine reached back to pat his thigh with a grin. "You keep telling yourself that, Commander." She leaned down to stage whisper, "We know the truth, right Cammie?"
Cammie licked Catherine's hand and chuffed a contented sigh. Her whole pack was safe and happy. Protective instinct born of the relationship formed tens of thousands of years ago may have been hardwired in her DNA, but love for her human family was hardwired in her heart.
# End. Thanks for reading!
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