A few days after Christmas we were playing dominoes here at the dining-room table with our friends Craig and Joyce. As usual I was in the lead with the highest score, for those of you who don't know the game, that is. Joyce had gotten hot and had taken her shoes off. Still not cool enough, she took her socks off too. (No, it is not that kind of game!) The next thing she knew someone was licking her foot. She giggled and looked down. There was Schuster being very attentive to her feet. So far so good. The next thing she knew her sock was gone and so was Schuster. She found the sock in the living-room, retrieved it and resumed losing--the game. Of course he stole it again before the night was over.
He is the sneakiest little dog I have ever known. He takes things and no one ever sees him do it. First you have a slipper; then you don't, and it appears somewhere else in the house. He's the puppy version of T. S. Eliot's McCavity the mystery cat. Things disappear; Schuster wasn't there.
And he's so bloody cute. If you scold him, he growls at you, and barks. He takes real offense that anyone should find fault with his behavior. So how can we do anything but love the little rascal? Schuster, put that slipper back!