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Different Laws for Different Paws
Nov. 3rd, 2015 06:28 pmItem: As I've mentioned before, when I sleep or even just take a nap on the bed, Buster and Gracie usually join me. They don't stay for very long, usually, but the initial laydown is pretty much reliable. Now, looking toward the head of the bed from its foot, I take up the left half of the bed, lying on my left side; Buster lies at about my shoulders and chest, and Gracie at my midsection. Here's the thing: both of them like to get up on the bed even when I'm not there, and then they just sprawl. (Buster particularly likes to lie on the pillow.) But when Buster sees me coming toward the bed to lie down, he shifts position to clear that left side. He knows which part of the bed is mine, and respects it. (Sometimes he doesn't move quite far enough, and I have to give a little shove.) Gracie, however... does not. I frequently have to wrestle her into position.
Item: Sometimes, the dogs will be in the bedroom while I'm in the kitchen. Suddenly, I'll hear a fusillade of barks: Buster and Gracie have spotted some unendurable intrusion, usually someone walking on the sidewalk that the bedroom window faces. Then, two quartets of legs come skittering the length of the house, headed for the doggie doors. Buster races past the kitchen and out the doors, driven by duty. Gracie skids to a stop and walks sedately to her food dish, the water dish, or me, whichever seems most inviting.
Item: I've had to separate their food dishes; earlier this year they took to fighting over the food. (I'd brought home a different brand of dog food; maybe it was just so-o-o tasty!) Gracie usually eats in the kitchen, and Buster around the corner in the dining room. Gracie goes to her dish and daintily picks up one or a few food bits, drops them on the tile floor, and eats them one by one. Buster... I'm not sure what Buster does - he stops when I come to look - but it sounds like he paws at the dish or the food, trying to knock some of it out onto the floor. The food bounces around the nearby part of the dining room; the dish slides around, sometimes several feet. I've had to retrieve it from under a dining room chair a time or two.
Different dogs are different.
(And, of course, I wouldn't have it any other way.)
Item: Sometimes, the dogs will be in the bedroom while I'm in the kitchen. Suddenly, I'll hear a fusillade of barks: Buster and Gracie have spotted some unendurable intrusion, usually someone walking on the sidewalk that the bedroom window faces. Then, two quartets of legs come skittering the length of the house, headed for the doggie doors. Buster races past the kitchen and out the doors, driven by duty. Gracie skids to a stop and walks sedately to her food dish, the water dish, or me, whichever seems most inviting.
Item: I've had to separate their food dishes; earlier this year they took to fighting over the food. (I'd brought home a different brand of dog food; maybe it was just so-o-o tasty!) Gracie usually eats in the kitchen, and Buster around the corner in the dining room. Gracie goes to her dish and daintily picks up one or a few food bits, drops them on the tile floor, and eats them one by one. Buster... I'm not sure what Buster does - he stops when I come to look - but it sounds like he paws at the dish or the food, trying to knock some of it out onto the floor. The food bounces around the nearby part of the dining room; the dish slides around, sometimes several feet. I've had to retrieve it from under a dining room chair a time or two.
Different dogs are different.
(And, of course, I wouldn't have it any other way.)
