Willow Thinks It Through

Our terrier-cross likes to pretend occasionally that she's dumb as dirt. Hah.

She knows dozens of words, including "Daddy's home!" and "cookie," her two favorites. She knows that to go outside Bandit must be in his cage--and she will monitor him until he goes in. If she is bad and you recognize it, she will often go into her crate--her "time out"--without being told, tail tucked between her legs. You won't even have to say "bad dog."

Last month as I prepared to take the two of them to the vet to board before we went to New York for the weekend, I had a plan of how to put them in the car in an orderly fashion, no hurry or fuss. Until I made the mistake of saying to Willow as I sat down to tie my shoes, "Do you want to go see Daddy?"

Willow didn't give me a moment's peace after that. She whined, she cried, she jumped at my feet. She was so hyper I had to put Bandit into the car first and take her out last.

Granted, perhaps she somehow made the correlation between "Daddy," "go," and my shoes. This doesn't explain how she knew, once brought outside, to go to the passenger side of the car and jump at the door!

James' day off this week happened to fall yesterday. Traffic on Monday is usually light unless there's an accident, so I made it home from work on time to see him off to his last week in A+/Net+ class. I tucked Bandit in his little carry box and put Willow on her leash--we could get some fresh air while seeing James off.

Willow whined and whimpered as James got in the truck, backed down the driveway, and turned into the street without her, then drove off. Once he was out of sight, I quit snubbing up the flexileash and let her have her head.

No, she did not run down the driveway and try to chase him down the street. She ran to the passenger door of my car and danced there, looking back at me, the expression on her face clearly, "C'mon, Mom, we can catch him if you hurry!"

And people say Lassie understanding all those words and concepts is impossible!

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:28:00 AM

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