Dear Mattie,

I know you wait all day for us.    I know you are the best wild dog a mom could ever hope to have.
However, you chewed my pillow.  Not once, but twice.   I know it is a sign you are angry.   I know there are far worse things you could choose to nibble....BUT it's Thanksgiving.     I ignored the tiny hole you put in the pillow you drug out into the backyard.    I brushed it off and put it back on the couch and was thankful for being your mom.   I even briefly blamed Stevie.   I hoped the tiny hole was I.T.   Hoped the chewing was a temporary  set back.  BUT NO.   We were home talking and playing and then your dad came home and we had to go shopping for groceries.    I even skipped getting my nails done so you could have dinner on time.   BUT NO.   We returned from  HEB to find stuffing and the second pillow with a bigger hole and you looked at me and wagged your tail.   You wagged your tail while I said "No Mattie"   "No chewing".    You did have your head lowered as  a sign you knew you were naughty.   Then you went and sat by Dad and he scratched your tummy and you ignored me.  Ignored me like I was the naughty one.
Hello....It's Thanksgiving.    Are you thankful for your squirrel walks?   The dinner time that comes every day around 5pm?    What about sleeping in the big bed and no more trips to the kennel when we leave town?    And what about that nice place you get to sit on road trips?   Head in dad's lap and me scrunched up in my seat never saying a word?   I move Stevie for you, keep his puppy teeth off your legs when you look desperate and then you CHEWED MY PILLOWS.   What do you have to say for yourself?  Seriously now.   I want to know how you can defend your actions.
I have something to say too.   
"Sorry I yelled at you."    "I should have kept the pillows in the closet."   "I don't need a soft place for my head....really I don't."

Love,
Mom