A Day in the Life of our 9 Week Old Puppy...and My Slipper

What is it in our nature that always wants what we cannot have? I have two pairs of North Face down slippers. One pair is old and the other is fairly new. Enter in our 9 week old yellow lab puppy who no fault of her own is the spitting image of Marley, from Marley and Me. Annabelle's behavior is unfortunately exactly the same as Marley, The other day I caught her in the closet grabbing my husbands expensive leather loafer. I know she understands she is not supposed to chew on it because she got a glimpse of me out of the corner of her eye and she took off like a bat out of hell. It probably only encourages her behavior when I take off running after her. It becomes a game of catch me if you can and as long as she is in the lead and continues to keep the item at large in her jowls then she is winning.

Rewind back to the two sets of slippers. Both pairs are down slippers. Both pairs are blue in color. Both smell like my feet-enough said. So, I figure I don't need to sets of down slippers and I decide to let Annabelle have the old set of slippers. Fast forward to this morning when the monster dog is let out of her crate for the evening. After doing all her business and we are all getting ready for school and work I give her, out of the kindness of my heart, my old slipper. Not fifteen minutes later she comes flying around the corner with...you guessed it....MY new slippers. Apparently the old ones are good enough for her, or...is it she just wants what she knows she is not supposed to have?

It's not a new problem. It dates all the way back to the beginning of mankind when God told Adam and Eve they could have ANY of the slippers in the garden...I mean eat of any tree in the garden—except ONE. Just one. If I gave Annabelle an REI store full of slippers I'd place wagers that she would still want the slippers that I've said are off limits. Why is that? What in our nature drives us to desire to have what we are told we cannot have? Is is the rebellion in us? The excitement of trying to get away with doing something we were told we shouldn't? Either way, it's obviously not only apart of my puppies life but I know it is apart of mine, too. So, I need to ask myself, What can I do in my life to make sure I'm okay with having the old slipper's?