Tasha and Others

Archive for the ‘Behavior’ Category

I’m busy writing away upstairs. Last time I looked, it was 4:00 in the afternoon. Suddenly, I hear my dog Tasha get up off the floor next to me, she shakes, she moves in closer, and I can feel her expectant stare right on me. It’s 5:45, and the dinner routine is about to start–just 15 minutes from can-opening time, and somehow, she knows it. I might still be consumed with work, but at the witching hour, I have no choice but to pull myself away from the computer and out of my chair. I must trundle downstairs to attend to the needs of my dog.

I didn’t mean to train my dog to eat at such a specific time, but 6 o’clock it is–every night. On the dot. If I stay out late, I think Tasha sits beside her food bowl, waiting for me to come home and get on with it. She’s always right where she should be, sitting patiently (but not too patiently), and drooling to her heart’s content.

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I read something the other day that went like this: “Being human is the new black.” I think it’s true. With all of the social experience we’re sharing online these days, communicating in a human way is almost the expectation.

This human-like approach made me think of Siri, the human-like voice that came with my new iPhone. Siri tries to answer whatever question I might have. Before she responds, she considers my voice query with a thoughtful phrase, such as “Let me check on that” or “Let me think about that”–something to give me confidence. If she can’t dig up an answer, Siri admits it by saying, “I can’t answer that,” and then dumps me into my browser so I can do my own searching. Technically, I know she’s relying on a huge database to help me out, but her friendly tone doesn’t give that away, and I appreciate the effort.

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Tasha has two new friends, Besa and Bruno. Besa is an eight-month old part Border Collie, part something else. She’s perfect for Tasha’s energy. The two of them play tug together from the same stuffed toy, go romping in the woods and get all muddy together, and are in each other’s mouths. They bark at the same things and have become good buddies.

Bruno is a very small Rat Terrier. He’s almost so ugly that he’s cute. He’s only nine pounds, so he gets to go everywhere that a cat would go–on the bed, under the bed, on the couch, on an airplane. He’s a lucky dog.

At last Tasha has met her match with Besa. I’m happy for all of them!

Tasha drools. When she gets excited, that’s the first thing I see. It happens mostly at the dog park, and I haven’t seen any other dogs that salivate as much as she does. I constantly need to wipe the drool off of her mouth, her neck, and her chest. I wipe the drool onto her coat, knowing that it will brush out eventually. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good picture of Tasha drooling yet.

I’ve gotten used to Tasha drooling, but when she does, both friends and strangers look at me like I have a rabid dog. It’s not something you get used to or pretend not to see. It’s become part of her character–her charm!

Today a friend of mine suggested a solution to Tasha’s lack of attention when I call her to come. Blow a whistle, and when she comes, give her a piece of a hot dog. Simple. So I went out today and bought hot dogs. I’d never bought them before. I was prettty sure Tasha would eat any kind, so I went for the cheapest things that looked like what I know of hot dogs.

I came home, and with a piece of hot dog in hand, made Tasha sit. I then made her stay, went into the next room, and called her to come. She did all three things expertly, so I gave her the hot dog. Wow! She went nuts. For a dog that never gets people food, she was more than excited. I tried it again. Made her sit, stay, and then called her from a distance. Again, she behaved with perfection.

Now all I need is the whistle so when she’s outside and I call her she’ll relate the loud noise with the treat. Hopefully, this will solve the problem of the disappearing dog when Tasha goes with me outside. The Pavlovian approach wins!

The toy “Kong” is supposed to be indestructable. Not true! Tasha chewed hers into bits.

There was peanut butter in it, for one thing. I had been worried that Tasha was suffering from separation anxiety. She gets so upset when I go anywhere without her. So, following some advice, I gave Tasha the Kong, thinking that she would associate the sturdy toy with some fun while I was gone. But Tasha ate the Kong along with the peanut butter in the middle.

I wish I had taken a picture of the pieces of red rubber that were scattered all about. They were in the middle of a pile of dirt from a mud-covered bone that Tasha had dragged in. The stair landing was a doggie mess! I don’t know if there’s any toy that Tasha couldn’t get her teeth into.

I heard that you’re not supposed to leave a dog with anything that they can chew into little bits. Well, guess I messed up on that one. Next, the Galileo bone…