Last night I made cupcakes for the charity bake sale at work. This is the second bake sale they've had. The first one was a little more successful.

The proceeds of all the charity work going on at the office go to to the Make a Wish Foundation and the Humane Society: organizations almost everyone can get behind for sure. Heck, even the dog did his part....sort of.

See, when Winston stands up he's right about nose level with the counter....

on which the cupcakes were cooling. He could have, even though he knows better, just stretched his neck out a little further and gotten himself a chocolate cupcake. Winston loves chocolate, even though it's bad for him. No wonder people feel they have so much in common with dogs.

"Winston! Cut that out! Get your nose away from there! Those aren't yours, those are for work." I told him.

He sat down but continued to give me a hopeful expression.

"They're for charity!" I went on.

The dog, natuarlly, continued to look uncomprehendingly at me. Although he knows a lot of English words such as "go for a ride" "bacon" "got to go out?" "sit", etc, I DO know that the dog doesn't really understand me. At least, I don't think he does all the time.

Still, he's as big as a person, and such a comanding presence that The Hub and I do tend to treat him like one.

"You know, charity? They're to help sick kids and homeless dogs. For goodness sake, Goober, you shouldn't be so selfish! You should think of other dogs who have no one to feed them and give them belly rubs."

It's hard to describe the noise Winston made. We call it "talking" because it has the intonation of human speech - a sort of ululating, clipped whine. "Arr-rugh-rue-rue." he said, in a tone which suggested resignation. Then he slid down onto the floor, plopped his massive head down on his paws and let out a deep sigh.

He couldn't have understood what I was saying....it just seemed like he did. A lot.