Riley and the Pizza Slice

by Jack

Several days ago I placed a half-eaten pizza back in the oven and then I forgot about it until I was cleaning the kitchen . My first thought was to toss it, then I thought about our family Golden Retriever, Riley, he loves cheese pizza, I should give it to him! Without giving it another thought, I tossed the pizza slice into his dog dish.

About 45 minutes later my daughter arrives home with Riley in tow. His nose immediately catches the scent of pizza and he tugs on the leash. What is it Riley? My daughter asks. Riley can only respond in dog gestures, so he does this little dance where his front feet prance and his rear-end wiggles and he moves closer to his dog dish. He’s definitely spotted the pizza and now he’s tugging on his leash. I look on with some amusement at this struggle between a 90 lb. dog struggling to get his food and a 110 lb. little blonde girl trying to hold him back on a slick tile floor.

Riley can’t have pizza, he’s too fat! She exclaims as she starts to skid. I reply, oh, c’mon it’s just one little slice, it won’t hurt. But, my daughter is adamant and she snatches the pizza from Riley’s bowl before he can [woof] it down. By the look on his face, he is totally dismayed. He whimpers…but, it is barely audible, however it gets my daughter’s attention and she explains with much compassion to Riley, (its really meant for me) “No, you can’t have this Riley, it’s not good for dogs, I’ll give you some dog food. Now, you just sit right there and I’ll be right back.” Riley sits obediently and watches the pizza slice heading out the front door. Oh, the humanity… and he turns to look at me with his forlorn…do something look, she’s taking my pizza! But, alas there’s nothing I can do.

In a moment my daughter returns from her trip to the garbage can. Riley is visibly upset, if you could hear the conversation in his head it would probably go something like this, “But it was in my bowl Mama, the rules say, if it is in my bowl then it belongs to me! Why you take my pizza mama? Riley sad dog.”

Riley gets the dry dog food and then he goes to his dog cushion in the living room where he lays down feeling sad and no doubt still thinking, “But, it was my pizza mama….” Somehow I know this by the look on his face. Those big brown eyes say it all. He’s worried about that pizza slice sitting outside, all alone, in the cold, in the garbage can!

Night fades into morning, I’m up early, but my daughter is still in bed, having worked the previous evening.

The doorbell rings, its UPS. I answer and receive a package. I think, I hope contains a tractor solenoid I ordered from eBay. So, I’m standing in the doorway and somehow Riley finds just enough between me, the door, and a startled delivery man, to bolt passed us and down the sidewalk at full steam. Gee, I knew he was mad at us, but I never thought he would run away from home!

I yell, “Riley, get back here…Riley!” But, it’s no use; Riley makes a fast right turn and disappears past the end of the garage.

I put my autograph on the delivery confirmation and resign myself to go retrieve Riley from wherever it is that he ran, and I better find him before my daughter wakes up and freaks out. The UPS guys walks back to his van and at the same time back comes Riley. He’s got a smile on his face that only a Golden Retriever can make (if you know Golden’s you get it) and one more thing…. there’s a big pizza slice hanging out both sides of his mouth! He has overcome adversity and victory is his! He triumphantly cantors up to the front door and trots all the way to his empty doggie food bowl, where he chomps down the pizza in about 3.5 seconds. He then looks back at me as if to say, “Aren’t you proud of me?” And yes, I am. But, don’t tell my daughter about it.