Your dog thinks you’re the most reliable person alive. Try living up to that.

A dog has no evidence for its confidence and offers it anyway, every day, based on nothing but the fact that you turn up. There is something clarifying about being trusted that completely by somebody who cannot assess you. It makes the small failures visible, the late walk and the skipped evening, which human disappointment tends to hide behind politeness.

Do the boring parts on time for a week, the walk and the water and the attention when you get in. Notice how different that feels from intending to. The same gap exists with people, and they are just quieter about it.