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? :-)