Quit Staring At Me!

Quit staring at me!

So I've been telling you about Faith and reflections. Well I finally caught her at it with a camera. Silly girl!

Our kitchen has a series of windows that look out on the back yard. Faith chases along them, barking at the other dog. Who, of course, barks back. Or so Faith believes. After all, it looks like the other dog is barking, and she can't hear to tell that it's not.

And you know, that dog looks amazingly like someone she knows. Cute. White face. Intent look. Why, this definitely seems like a "looking for a friend who looks like me" sort of situation.

Intruder Alert!

Of course, the photo at top right is a close up. Faith isn't just looking out the window. She's on alert, as you can see at left. I mean, you never know what a strange dog in the back yard might do. Like hover outside a second story window. Or fog up the class on the outside with her breath. Or, well, stare at her.

To make matters worse, our kitchen has a row of windows looking out on the back yard, and a sliding door onto a rear porch. Faith stares for a while, then she runs to the door. Strange dog follows her. She runs back to the window. Strange dog follows her. She stares intently. Strange dog doubles down and stares right back. I mean, really. The nerve of that dog to disturb Faith's harmony in the privacy of her own kitchen.

Trevor can't figure out what the excitement is about, because he's not confused about reflections. He sometimes thinks it's fun to follow Faith back and forth, though. It's a "support the team" sort of thing. Sometimes he bumps her and she gets annoyed. Kind of like "What? Can't you see that I'm defending our turf here? If you can't make yourself useful, at least get out of the way!" After a while Trevor decides that some kinds of silliness are too confusing, and he retires to the couch to watch the antics. She runs back and forth, his head follows like he was watching a tennis match. Eventually he seems to decide that she's crazy in the head, sighs, puts his head on his paws, and gives me a look as if to say "You're the person. You figure it out."

Anybody have any clues on how to socialize a dog with herself? :-)

Halloween 2011

Cuddle Bugs

Irrelevant photo, but better than nothing.

Faith went trick-or-treating with us this year. Trevor couldn't, because he's recovering from some truly awful digestive problem. That probably was for the best, because they don't always behave appropriately when they meet other dogs as a pair.

I've said previously that Faith is fascinated by reflections, displays, and blinking lights. My son was giggling hysterically at my narration of the Battle for the iPad. "Faith: Quit getting fingerprints on my drool spots, little two-legs. Child: Then quit drooling on my game, and, umm, move your head so I can see!" He wants to play a game, she wants to check up on Wootube. He pushes her head out of the way, she circles around and looks over his shoulder on the other side. By which I mean to say that the rests her head on his shoulder and plants her nose back in the display using him for a chin rest. And so forth. She's currently fascinated by Hungry Piggies. Whenever one of the little piggies goes flying off the iPad display she tracks the trajectory. She seems to be trying to work out where those piggies go when they disappear off the edge of the screen. I think she's worried that they may get loose or something.

Thinking back, I don't remember saying that she is extremely people friendly. Faith enjoys meeting strangers - including kids - and she is basically willing to exploit any opportunity for positive attention. She's a big hit at the local mall, but I wasn't sure how she would handle the costumes at Halloween. I figured she'd enjoy the walk, so off we all went.

Apparently blinking lights rank above people, because at several points there were three or four kids petting her and getting completely ignored in favor of one light display or another.

Also, her herding drive is not triggered by small children in sheep costumes.

And thankfully, she seems to have no interest in chocolate. Unfortunately, Trevor does, but that's a blog post for another time.

As dusk turned to night, she transitioned from watching the blinking lights to keeping a close eye on our son. She's a daddy's dog for sure, but she likes him quite a lot.

So no surprises, but she's doing fine.