Once A God, Now Not Even Acknowledged By A Dog

I'm a dog person. One of the reasons that I look forward to visiting my mother-in-law (MIL) is to see Shiki. Now I don't know how Shiki does it, but each time our car appears from a distance he will already be barking and jumping with joy. Shiki will not stop the barking till we're inside the house or have given him a pat/belly rub. Sometimes both.

Shiki

Frankly, I enjoy the attention. I had a cat for quite some time and all it ever does is eyeball me with an expression that says 'you wanna fight?' Being greeted so warmly makes you feel godly - like having your theme music played whenever you arrive. This must be how the WWE stars feel as they enter a ring.

Unfortunately the theme music stopped a couple of weeks back.

Shiki doesn't welcome us nowadays. Sometimes he'll wag his tail, sometimes he'll totally ignore us. Not a single bark of acknowledgment.What's gotten into him? The only way I can coax some response from him is if I have a doggie snack.

I'm thinking teen angst. Shiki will turn 2 later this year, meaning he's almost approaching puberty in dog years. All those raging hormones and potential territorial disputes with the more established dogs in the neighborhood must have got him depressed. MIL, however, offered a different explanation.

Normally MIL will unleash Shiki once we arrive and put him back on the leash after we've left. Recently she's stopped doing this, preferring to unleash Shiki once we've left. So before this Shiki has equated our arrival with his freedom, and he was so happy to see us because of that!

It seems like we've read this one wrong... we were the theme music all along.

It's all about me...