Thinking dogs can be a pain...


Diddy's Tuck observations reminded me that I wanted to post about a little
incident from this past weekend, to wit:

I took the dogs out for a nice run on the trails, the weather being halfway
decent. Trails were muddy as hell, but that's nothing new...

At any rate, at one point in our usual circuit we cross a small feeder
stream which is in a gully, and which has wide, mucky/muddy banks at the
crossable points even at the best of times - the sort of sticky, sloppy mud
where you go in up to the ankles. Where the gully's higher - approx 6 foot
deep and 10 feet wide - a 12' wide plank has been laid across to allow
crossing with dry feet.

Morag, being particular, *prefers* to use the human crossing and stay out of
the mud; she trots across the slightly bouncy plank nonchalantly, which is
made easier for her, of course, by the fact that she's narrow (approx. 6" at
her widest point, e.g. her chest) and lightweight.
Brenin CAN cross the plank with little difficulty, but A: doesn't care for
the bounciness and, even more so, B: doesn't see the point; he prefers to
slop through the mud. I, however, sometimes don't want to deal with sticky
mud 8" up his legs and splattered all over him elsewhere, especially in
weather too cold for splashing him off in the big creek on the way out.
Therefore, I am sometimes a Big Meanie who insists that he cross the plank,
as I did this weekend.

So - Bren started towards the muck, I said "Anh", indicated the plank, and
said "walk it". Normally, he makes faces but then galumphs across. This
time, however, he happened to be carrying a small, flattened soccer ball
which he'd picked up a bit further back. He looked at me, and then at the
plank, then from side to side, with the gears in his brain clearly clicking
over.

I repeat "walk it". He starts towards the plank, but turns to the side and
drops his ball *right* at the edge of the bank, about 3 feet away.
"Bren", says I, "pick up your ball, let's go." "Wurrhf!" says Brenin, and
proceeds to very deliberately give it a poke with his nose, sending it over
the edge and into the mud.
"WROO!!" says he, doing a little front-foot jig, giving me and the ball
alternating Significant Looks... "WrooWOOwoo!" Which rather obviously can
be translated as "Oh, gee, what a pity! I guess I'll just HAVE to go down in
the mud to obey you and get the ball..."




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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Thinking dogs can be a pain...
    ... little incident from this past weekend, ... mud where you go in up to the ankles. ... Brenin CAN cross the plank with little difficulty, ... drops his ball *right* at the edge of the bank, ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Thinking dogs can be a pain...
    ... time, however, he happened to be carrying a small, flattened soccer ball ... He starts towards the plank, ... and drops his ball *right* at the edge of the bank, ... over the edge and into the mud. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)