Don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but the doglike creature who co-habits our house and occasionally answers to the name of Abbye is the possessor of certain, um, behavioral quirks.
She’s very suspicious of anything that appears to be wrong, where “wrong” may be defined as “anything she doesn’t expect.” For example, if one person opens the door so that she may proceed onto the back porch to survey her queendom, and a different person opens the door to let her back in…well, that bears investigation.
When this situation occurs, she’ll pause in mid-amble for the briefest moment to touch her nose to the doorperson’s leg, just to confirm that he or she is duly authorized to perform that menial task in her presence. If MLB lets her out, and I let her back in, I get the perfunctory leg-sniff. If I let her out and MLB lets her in, same thing.
Recently, I let her out AND back in, but I got the leg-sniff anyway. The reason? I had put on a ballcap after I let her out, and in her doggie little mind, I could now be an entirely different person because my head had taken on a different shape.
I can’t imagine where she gets this. Is she afraid that Dr. Jekyll is letting her out, but Mr. Hyde may be waiting for her to come back in? Was she really paying attention when we watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers on TV?
I’ve been meaning to ask her about it, as soon as I can hide my ballcap.
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Dogs rule. There are so many times that I wish I could know what Annie was thinking.
I dunno, Jen…sometimes I think I’m better off not knowing what Abbye is thinking! It might scare me to find out.
Abbye is so cool! She doesn’t let anyone get the best of her! She’s doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her as long as she can retreat to some place familiar if she feels the need. She is trusting of her minions because they’ve proven themselves to be faithful and reliable. Someone WILL open that door for ingoing or outgoing! Someone WILL clean up serve as her personal trainer, supplying the motivation to be enthused about a regular regimen of aerobic exercise to keep her healthy. Someone WILL take her to the Hill Country each spring to see the bluebonnets. What more could her canine majesty want? Not many other Fidos have it so good!
And how do you know if her olfactory query isn’t just checking to see if the doorperson has eaten the last crumpet or slice of pizza without sharing a bite with her?
Abbye is one lovable pet!!! Oops! I mean PERSON! Sorry, girl.
“She’s very suspicious of anything that appears to be wrong, where ‘wrong’ may be defined as ‘anything she doesn’t expect.’ ”
That’s the ultimate irony. You’ve described, literally verbatim, the feudal Japanese approach to manners. Their term for “rude/ uncourteous” actually implies “behaving unexpectedly”.
Abbye is just sooo cute, too! Love that shot of her, Eric! Looks like somebody wants a tummy rub!
*Love that shot of her, Eric! Looks like somebody wants a tummy rub! *
I’m glad you like the photo; she had crawled off her Big Pillow where she often takes her afternoon nap (as opposed to the morning, mid-morning, late morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, early evening and late evening naps) to lay on the cool tile. I guess she didn’t notice the square of sunshine from our skylight creeping over her…at least not until my camera shutter disturbed her slumber. What you don’t get to see is the look she gave me at that point.
Great story 🙂 Jay sent it along to me for this weeks Carnival of the Dogs, thanks!
Carnival of the Dogs – Week 8
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