I'm not sure what you're doing, because you're being so subtle, but if you think a giant, slobbery dog is what this household needs, then color me gung-ho.
This curious, slobbery interaction with the world is what Piaget called the sensorimotor stage – the level of development where all knowledge is based on what you can perceive with your senses.
It was the same room I had been interviewed in, except this time Mrs Traynor and her daughter were perched on the sofa, their slobbery old dog between them.