Yesterday I was doing some laundry and Mister Fusspot took exception to the load being tumbled in the dryer. He woofed and woofed, and because no one was giving this Dire! Situation! the consideration it deserved, he ran back into the den, woofed for attention and then woofed at the dryer. We shushed him, reminding him it was only laundry, and a couple of times I went over, picked him up and tried to soothe him. He was persistent, however, remaining on guard against the dryer until the cycle finished.

After folding/hanging the clothes, I discovered a quarter, apparently from Alan's jeans, that I had washed and dried. It was the sound of the quarter to which he objected, knowing full well that this was not the normal sound of typical laundry. Most of the time when he's fussing about something, I discover later that it was a similar thing, where his sensitive ears noticed something we didn't. Barking at my purse because he hears my cell phone's low battery warning, barking at the garage because he hears the bird that's flown in, that kind of thing. When you have ears the size of salad plates, you tend to notice more.