My dog, Truman, woke me up at 3:40 this morning. Why? I’ve blogged about this before. Because he knew what time it was and was afraid we had overslept. Normally, by 3:40 my husband has showered, dressed for work and is packing his lunch. And by 3:40, I’m in the shower, getting ready for my day too. But today is Saturday. And the last person to go to bed (not me) forgot to shut the bedroom door. So at 3:40 AM our big brown alarm clock was in the door, softly whining, “Get up! You are going to be late!” So I got up and let me tell you, he was very proud of himself. I checked to make sure he had water and didn’t need to go outside, patted him on the head and went back to sleep (shutting the door behind me).
When I woke up a couple hours later, everything was quiet, just like a Saturday morning should be.
I recently read an article that talked about dogs being able to read facial expressions and pick up on moods. I don’t think this is groundbreaking research for anyone who owns a dog. I wonder how much money they spent doing this research and I wonder if there had been a government grant involved. But mostly I just thought about my own dog.
My husband doesn’t believe our dog is not very smart. I completely disagree. He’s a genius. First of all, let’s look at the obvious. The dog sleeps all day, is always assured food and water without doing any type of work, and humans not only clean up all the hair he leaves behind, they also clean up his poop.
He knows how to manipulate people too. Big time. When I’m home or my daughter’s home, or we’re home together, Truman peacefully lounges around. As long as he has food and water and goes outside once in a while, he’s perfectly content.
When my husband is home, it’s a different story. Truman whines. Why? Because he knows he will get all kinds of attention from my husband. He will get extra food, extra treats, extra belly rubs, back massages and a thousand walks a day if he really wanted to push it. Just by whining. I’m telling you, this dog is a genius.
I don’t believe Truman whines because he actually needs to go for a walk. I think he whines because he believes my husband is the one who needs to go for a walk. And Truman is the one who is in charge of getting him out there.
My husband loves to watch sports and he loves to analyze Ebay. He could probably spend hours and hours, uninterrupted, sitting on the couch with his laptop on his lap, watching TV and searching Ebay and be really happy! And there are much worse things, right?
I believe Truman’s whining is not, “I need to go outside!” I think his whining is, “C’mon buddy. Time to get off the couch and go out and get some fresh air! Follow me and I’ll show you the way. And as a reward to you for getting some exercise and breathing some fresh air, I promise I will randomly poop in someone’s yard for you. That way you can go home and say, ‘See, he needed to poop. That’s why he was whining.’ It will totally look like YOU are doing ME a favor.
Along with that little triumph, the bending over to clean up after me will help keep your back stretched out and it’s a great way to re-use those plastic bags you keep bringing home from the grocery store. And by the way, your secret is safe with me. I know, that even though you complain loudly, you really enjoy me taking you for a walk. And I have also heard you say that if it wasn’t for you having to take me on so many walks (wink, wink) you’d probably weigh 300 pounds. So let me just say; you’re welcome. I’m there for you buddy!!”
Yes, Truman is incredible, caring and a genius!
What I can’t explain is why such a genius dog will sniff at bird poop, goose poop, road kill and any other gross thing along the road. Hmmmm. I guess we’re not supposed to understand everything. People probably didn’t completely understand Einstein either.
Keep on smiling!
