Dolly Taught Us To Do a Trick.

This post is a bit tricky to do without giving the little surprise twist away right at the beginning. I like to save those for either the end of the story or near the end . I will say that having a dachshund as a pet can be a bit complicated at times.

 Gretchen loves to stay up late watching YouTube videos or chatting with her friends on the Backwoods Home magazine Forums. There are some good folks  there and we have made friends that without the net we'd have never known existed.

 It was midnight and Dolly came trotting out of the bedroom in a very happy mood. She walked up to where Gretchen was and sit down. About the only time she barks at us is when she needs to potty and even then her habit is to breeze right past you to go to the back door and bark. If she wants or needs something else she will come to one of us, sit down, and look at us quietly. There is no paw on the legs or anything to get your attention. She just sits patiently. 

 That particular night she had her little grin on her face. I call it a grin but it's actually the look she has in her eyes plus her body language. She was happy about something.

 When Gretchen saw her she did the "Hi how ya doing Dolly?" routine. Dolly remained seated It was obvious she needed something.  At times like these we ask her questions like "Are you hungry?" "Do you need to potty?"" Can i pick you up?" She got no response from her questions. When can't guess what she wants we say "OK Dolly Show Me! Show Me!"  Well she did get a response then. 

 Dolly led Gretchen to the kitchen where she stared at the kitchen sink. Gretchen said " Oh you are thirsty." "The water bowl is full Dolly but let me get you some fresh."  This comment produced some tail wagging so we were on the right track. Gretchen re-filled the water bowl but Dolly would not drink. She kept glancing at the sink. Gretchen says "You don't like the water bowl any more?" Dolly did not respond but she still looked at the sink. We were back to a guessing game. All of us talk to Dolly like we are talking to another human."  We don't expect an answer but I think she understands a bit more than we realize.

 

 Sometimes a bit of inspiration helps. Gretchen dug out my old green  coffee mug. The one I quit using because I was afraid I'd break it.That particular mug is no longer sold. I used to take it to work with me. Gretchen filled it with water. Dolly drank huge gulps of water out of it for a long time. Her usual habit even when she is thirsty is to take several short laps and walk away. These were not laps they were gulps and when she was finished she did the "Oh my humans are so smart !" performance with several "Thank You!" looks thrown in. She gets happy when we figure out something she's trying to tell us. 

 I used to take that mug outside with me in the morning. Sometimes Dolly would steal coffee out of it. Sometimes I'd let her have a little.

 Now here is the twist I was talking about earlier. I quit using that cup four years ago. In fact we did not even own Dolly then. She was owned by my next door neighbor. I took it out during the summer when Dolly hated our family. We eventually became friends and Dolly came over every day to visit. Like grew to love and love grew to a deep love. That summer has a lot of good memories. When the neighbors divorced that fall Dolly decided that I was going to be her new owner. I retired the coffee cup that fall.

 So I had a bit of a mystery on my hands. I know that a smart dog will remember somebody they love for years. I have used several coffee cups since then. She should have forgotten that cup a long time ago. It was only used for a short time in the mornings. Better yet what caused her to remember it?

 I think I know but it's just a theory and another twist to the story.  Dolly had been asleep. I think she had a dream about it. I know she dreams by how she acts when she sleeps on my shoulders. She moves her legs as if she's running, her tail wags, and on rare occasion she even barks. It's not a full bark, it's more like a sleepy "Burrrff " I think that night her mind had gone back to that happy summer when she was still a pup.

 We have not seen her use the water bowl for a few days now. In fact she even quit policing it. She lets the cats do as they wish with it. However every night when it is around midnight she comes out of the bedroom and wants water from my old coffee cup.  She gets it in the morning too.  This has turned out to be a good thing. Dolly has dry skin and she's now drinking more water on a daily basis than she used to. 

 Dolly is the most unusual dog I have ever owned. She is also the best and we all love her very much. I believe she loves us more.

 

Boredom Relief

 We have had too many days of cold dreary weather. Dolly spends too much time burrowed under the covers. I spend too much time in my recliner playing Facebook games. It was time to break up the routine. I did that by taking Dolly to the Tractor Supply store in Fulton MO.

 Dolly likes hardware stores especially the Farm and Home type stores. Probably in hopes of sinking her teeth into the baby chicks sometimes found there.  The smell of chicken feed gets her excited. She's a sweet dog towards humans but with birds her hunting instincts take over and she has the typical dachshund hunting instinct.

 She may or may not have been disappointed to find no baby chicks at Tractor Supply. I think she forgot about them because as soon as we entered the store one of the workers started calling to her. She was almost galloping in place to get to her. Sort of like a Fred Flintstone run. 

 It turned out that the employee grew up in Germany. She called Dolly a dachel and told me she had one like her when she was a girl. She said that she and her friends used to sneak the dog into the movie theater and feed her popcorn to keep her quiet.  When she got home her mom would be mad at her for feeding the dog too much popcorn.  Her dog's name was Schatze. I laughed and told her that if I were to ever change Dolly's name I'd call her Schatze. That's German for "Little sweety" or "Little Sweetheart".  Dolly fell in love immediately with the woman. She kept trying to jump up on the counter to see her better. 

 A bit later on I was approached by an older man.  He asked me how old my coonhound pup was. I was tempted to tell him that she was a new breed of dog called the Miniature German Shepherd.  If he asked me about her ears I'd have told him "Oh they don't rise up until they are eleven and a half months old."

 It turned out that the old fellow was doing a really good job of teasing me. Good natured teasing. He was a dog lover too. Told me that he and his wife babysat their kids dogs when they were on vacation. He was not kidding when he looked me in the eye and said " Some of those little dogs are so smart you can talk to them and they almost understand what you are saying." 

 I liked that old fellow. I'm going to have to go to Tractor Supply with Dolly more often. Not to buy stuff but to just visit.