I’ve been curiously unSnarlied lately, maybe because in general I’m just kind of lying low, a bit tired of worrying about dogs. At the same time, I’ve been especially grateful for both dogs now that I semester is ending and I’m looking at more days at home (yay!) and then again more days at home (sometimes a little disorienting and lonely). Last night Pearl and Kosmo were in particularly good moods, Kosmo determined to play and Pearl frequently on her back kicking her legs around as she hasn’t done in ages. They were relaxed and happy and thus so was I.
With her D.A.P collar and her latest homeopathic remedy, Pearl has had long moments of very peaceful sleep during which she gives off an energy that is bordering on the Lucy-like. This is entirely new and enormously heartening. It’s weak and fleeting, but it’s there. And since Kosmo’s recent blood tests revealed healthy liver enzymes, he’s cleared for regular Rimadyl, with the result that he’s spry and lively. (I know that Rimadyl is not without its detractors, but for now, I’m blocking up my ears to the criticism on the grounds that I can’t argue with his renewed energy, ability to rise from his feet without a struggle, and improved appetite for food and play.)
Meanwhile, I’m reading Temple Grandin’s Animals in Translation, avoiding anything to do with slaughter houses, but finding lots of interesting observations on animals and on autism, both of which interest me inordinately. Tidbits that ring true: fearful animals are also the most curious, a claim that makes sense out of what have always seemed conflicting behaviors: if Pearl is so spooked—and she is—why does go right up to something that clearly unnerves her? Dogs are predators. You can’t tell me this enough; I have real trouble keeping it in my head. But somehow Grandin is getting it in there, where it’s rattling around with other observations—for instance, Pearl’s chase reflex, which is instantaneous and really seems to have a life of its own. And I love thinking about our lives with these predators who agree to live among us not only peacefully, but with deep, loving bonds.
The Pack has built a tenuous connection to each other that almost always links them in their individual but simultaneous group reaction to the environment.
ReplyDeleteOne day last week; however, we were outside trying to hack our way through the bamboo forest, before it overtook the neighborhood, when suddenly I saw little Binny come prancing around the corner of the unfenced area of the house. I was panicked when I saw him and not the other two. My first thought was that Pepper and Coco had taken off for parts unknown while Binny decided to investigate what we were doing. Calling to Binny to follow us back to the house, he looked around as if he was going to venture out into the neighborhood to discover other unique things to smell and bark at, but he followed anyway.
We got to the front door and it was standing wide open and there stood Pepper and Coco dutifully remaining behind the invisible barrier of the door. Why would the smallest, barkiest, most nervous little pipsqueak be the bravest to cross that line and come to investigate our whereabouts and not trigger the other two to follow?
I was amazed that the other two had remained standing at the door. Finally, some progress has been made in our many attempts to train them not to run out the front door when it opened.
Pepper was the most famous for darting out the door whenever it opened (not unlike a little one named Jody.) When Pepper first came to live with us, ten years ago, we spent many cumulative hours chasing her through the neighborhood where she would run like a rabbit up and down the streets and around neighborhood houses. Now that she's a Senior citizen she, like us, has resigned herself to only walk when she's outside. She may sprint with the other two, for a few yards and then suddenly halt when she realizes that she really doesn't feel like running around. She seems to have little interest in investigating the unknown.
Coco, being the youngest of the three, probably learned his lesson at an earlier age. The last time he ran out the door and up in the street a slow moving car hit him. Mony yelled to Coco and the driver a split second too late but the impact was not hard enough to injure. Coco was knocked over but jumped up and bit the bumper of the car and then ran back to the house. This was the very last time that Coco tried to run away. Does he remember that accident? Who knows?
Pack behavior is very interesting to observe since it seems to vary and is sometimes not predictable.
I didn't realize that Pepper was such an escape artist at one time! I certainly know the singular embarrassment of running around the neighborhood calling for one's dog. Pearl is like Binny--she'd probably come looking, too. Kosmo wouldn't let his training interfere with his opportunism: an open door means an unfettered trip to the park, though he's very slightly less likely to bolt as instantly as he used to do These days, he thinks about it, then takes off.
ReplyDeleteSince you're un-snarkying, I'll add another few thoughts:
ReplyDeletePepper, more than once ran up and down Edmonston Rd. in rush hour traffic, darting in and out of cars who fortunately missed her. During her first week here, Colin chased her up and down Edmonston for what seemed like hours and we thought she was a goner that time. We would also go after her in the car and then she would come up to the open door and then dart off in the opposite direction when we thought we had her cornered.
One morning I chased her and Laica down the street in my robe and slippers!! What a embarrassment to all.
That was the beginning of our neighborhood reputation...
It's hard to believe that Pepper is the same dog but she was only a year old and newly release from her jail cell at the DC shelter.
I'm so glad that she mellowed into who she is today.
The three of them are still unpredictable in some situations which does not allow me to let them go without a leash-anywhere.