Saturday, September 25, 2010

Trust in Dog

Trust in Dog

Trust in Dog, she will keep you dry in the face of evil rains.
Trust in Dog, she will lead you out of the darkness into the light of Wilton drive.
Trust in Dog, she knows best.

This morning, after waking up and feeding Lettie, I put some coffee into the roaster and walked outside to inspect the weather.   This being the Wet Season, we get days where it could rain at any moment and the storm won't show on the radar.  I didn't think much of the weather and walked back into the house, after all the coffee beans were due to come out of the popcorn popper cum coffee roaster.

After setting the beans out to cool, silencing the smoke detector, and turning on the fans to clear the air, I gathered up the necessaries and stepped outside into the morning with Mrs Dog.  She walked past me and onto the grass in front of the house and stopped cold.   Sniffing the air she looked from side to side.  It looked like she was sniffing out impending doom so I started looking too. 

Still seeing the same clouds I had seen mere minutes ago, I shrugged and grabbed the umbrella and set out into the Florida Morning.  

We have a set route in the morning.  She could do it on her own, blindfolded.  She knows which driveway apron I like to cross onto the verge of the street from the sidewalk, and where on it I do so.   She knows which route at which time of day I take.  It is all a part of having an intelligent dog with you and not a furry lap warmer or a yapping lump. 

We do not do tricks, we have "Behaviors".   I tell her "Show Me" and she will take me to what she thinks needs my attention and it is not always a food or ice cube treat.  If you have never had a dog, a Border Collie is a handful but what you get back is orders of magnitude more than what you put in.  She knows me better than I know myself, and she's also a better judge of character around strangers which is quite useful living in a resort city.

Walking out the Usual Morning Route, she got to the second intersection and stopped.  Sniffing the air again, I watched and said, Lets go! as she looked at me and then to the street of the "Short Walk" and back to sniffing.  "OK! Show Me!" and she turned down the Short Walk Street and led me onwards.

We got two properties down that block and the rain started.  I couldn't hear it coming but she certainly did. 

Trust in Dog, she will tell you if you only listen.

Walking through the rain, we did what we had to do and got to the end of that block, wet.  The rain petered out to a drizzle, and she turned back into the Sniff Monster that she could be.   At one point, someone with a Cocker Spaniel overheard me say "Rain, Go, Walk" to Lettie.  Not being used to an intelligent dog, he said "Yeah, right like they listen".

As Lettie immediately stopped sniffing to "Rain, Go, Walk" the only response I could have said is "She knows more than I can guess" and walked onward.

By that time the rain had ended and she wasn't buying my trying to rush her around town any longer.  (sigh) Ok, up to Five Points and then home.

Trust In Dog, She Knows Best.

1 comment:

  1. Yes Bill-dogs are very intelligent! They are so special in many ways and I've seen on tv that they can even detect cancer in some humans! Amasing animals dogs are!

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