Furry Friday – Nose Art

My windows are dirty, but I don’t clean them, at least not every day.  I don’t want to erase a work in progress.  The large picture window in the living room provides a blank canvas for our dogs to create “nose art,” masterpieces rendered in drool and nose smudges, passionately smeared across the window in bursts of creativity, usually inspired by the presence of various critters in the front yard. 

Every morning, I open the curtains, allowing Gidget McFidget and Bruce Wayne the opportunity to survey their domain.  They leap up on the ottoman that provides a comfortable viewing platform, and they take their designated positions as guardians of the yard, and the street, and whatever portions of the neighbors’ yards they can see from the window.  No moving creature is safe from their watchful gaze.  Even the neighbors bringing in their trash bins or fetching the mail are not immune from sounding the alert. 

Between the two dogs, nothing escapes their notice.  Amazon drivers, pedestrians, the stray tabby cat who hunts mice in the field across the street – all are announced with a different bark that I have come to identify.  By listening to the intensity and sound of the alarm, I can tell if it’s the cat, the neighbor, a rabbit daring to venture onto the lawn, or – the worst offender – someone walking a dog.  Heaven help us all if a FedEx truck should rumble down the road.  Bruce Wayne has a particular hatred for those big white trucks as well as the drab brown ones that deliver packages to our home.

Every evening, the setting sun highlights their creative endeavors, backlighting the streaks and smears on the glass that speak of their excitement over the live programming they view through their giant screen TV.  Poor Bruce has no idea that we will be covering the window for the next month or two as he undergoes heartworm treatment.  The vet has warned us that he must avoid strenuous activity that would elevate his heart rate, and the jumping barks at the window would qualify as an intense cardio workout.

I wonder, should I clean the windows before I cover them?