Sleeping (a short post)

Brandy sleeps on my bed at night. And she sleeps very well indeed, so much so that when I wake up in the mornings, she is usually still sleeping soundly. And she goes to bed earlier than I do! And she naps during the day too! If I'm not in a hurry, I will leave her and just continue with my morning routine. If I have to wake her, I usually pet her and speak to her and her tail will wag, then I carry her off the bed and put her on the floor. She doesn't jump off the bed 'cos of her bad leg (and I also think she is getting too old to jump around).

Sometimes Brandy dreams. I know she is dreaming 'cos she makes these little whimpering noises or her eyes will twitch or her legs will move around like she is running in her sleep or all three. I wonder what she dreams about.

She usually sleeps at the bottom of the bed but once in a while she will position herself right in the middle of the bed. When I get in, we have a little pushing game (where I push and she stays put) until she gives up and moves to her place at the end. I am glad she is not a big dog as I only win 'cos of the size difference.

Signals that Brandy understands

I used to watch herding dog trials on television where the owner would stand still and give instructions to their dogs via whistles or one-word phrases, and the dogs would herd sheep or was it ducks around obstacles and finally into a pen.

So how does this apply to Brandy. Following are Brandy's understanding of some of my signals. No actual words are spoken.

1. "Tsk" said loudly - stop whatever you are doing and look up with an innocent enquiring face, ears forward. If no further signal is received quickly, go back to doing whatever you were doing before you were rudely interrupted. If further action consists of...

2. A second louder "Tsk" - stop doing the naughty thing immediately and lie down and pretend to lay your head on your paws until owner thinks you have stopped being naughty and goes back to whatever owner was doing before.

3. A loud "Tsk" said with owner's arms akimbo - sign of serious trouble. Immediately stop whatever you were doing, look as innocent as possible, and slink towards owner. If possible try and look cute at the same time.

4. A grunt that sounds like "Ehmm" - owner is busy on the computer or watching tv, so further bugging by jumping up with front paws on owner's leg or chair owner is sitting on is required until owner gets up to give you what you wanted (usually for the room door to be opened, sometimes for a doggy treat, sometimes for a pet)

5. A deeper grunt that sounds like "Mmm" - warning not to start doing anything naughty, eg. when the phone starts to ring and you want to start barking.

6. Owner standing still with right arm outstretched pointing - go in direction that arm is pointing. This action can be done when owner is happy with you and this usually involves dog treats waiting for you, so run in direction indicated quickly. This action can also be done when owner is mightily upset with you and is angry beyond words. In such a case, you must flee quickly in direction indicated and hide until owner forgets what you have done.

7. Owner sitting on chair and looking at you with eyebrows raised and chin raised with small smile - owner is temporarily free. If you want, you can now ask for a pet or doggy treat or to go out but usually all you want is to lie in your bed and look back at owner with sleepy eyes.

Musings on Brandy

When a family member comes home and does not pet Brandy, she will follow the person around the house until she is noticed and her pet duly received. She will then stop trailing said person as if satisfied that her presence as an important family member has been acknowledged.

The other time, Brandy annoyed my sister to the point that she received an enormous scolding and was duly ignored for some hours. She tried various ways to get back into my sister's good graces (my sister feeds her regular amounts of doggy treats when she is in favour), hanging around the doorway to my sister's room, wagging her tail and lying on her back and exposing her tummy whenever my sister walked around the house but all to no avail. She had been extremely naughty. She (Brandy not my sis) then decided to try the 'ok you ignore me, so I ignore you back'. I was in my room and heard my sister laughing. When I came out to see what was up, I was told that as my sister stood at her room doorway, Brandy walked past her twice, pretending to ignore my sister, just walking straight by but at the very last minute, sort of turned her head to see if my sister was looking at her. The first time, she turned her head back quickly and continued walking. Then turned right round, and walked past my sister again going in the opposite direction and did the same thing, ignoring my sister and just turning her head to see if she was being watched at the end. When my sister laughed, Brandy knew that all was well and was wagging her tail.

When she does something naughty like weeing or making a poo at the wrong place (we live in a flat and she has been toilet trained on a doggy litter tray), she will immediately look guilty, tail tucked down and slink around the house and hide under my bed. We don't even have to see the evidence of her naughtiness first, just seeing her act like that will cause us to hunt for the evidence. Silly dog, alerting us to her crime when she should be enjoying herself until the moment someone spots it.

I was going out yesterday and she was pestering to follow. After finally realising she wasn't going out at all, she turned around at the door and walked back inside the flat. Now I wasn't paying attention at the moment and suddenly realised Brandy was not at the doorway where she was a moment ago. I was worried she may have slipped out of the flat so I called her name. A moment later, I heard her running from inside the flat to the doorway. I think she thought I was going to bring her out after all. She looked eager, ears forward, eyes bright, tail wagging. When I began to close the door, she gave me a proper disgusted look and turned her back to me and walked back inside.

She is not a fussy eater but she likes to be watched when she eats her dinner. I take her to her food bowl, and stoop beside her and pet her head and she eats. I back off a bit, and a moment or two later, she turns her head to make sure I'm there. I say "Good girl" and she goes back to eat. I back off a bit more and repeat the process. I try to sneak off after the second repeat and sometimes it works when she thinks I'm somewhere behind her. If I am not free or not in, someone else does this with her. If I forget to watch her or am busy on the computer, she will eat a bit and then come into my room and lie down or rub her face on her bed. Then I have to bring her to her food bowl and start the process. Of course, if she is desperately hungry, she does not need a watcher. Needing someone to watch her eat seems only necessary when she is in a 'can eat or leave it' mood.

Here is Brandy scratching an itch on her right side.

Brandy had a bath today

After a couple of Brandy unrelated posts, it's back to Brandy's news.

She had a bath today. She gets a weekly bath, usually on a Monday but because Monday was New Year's Day and Tuesday was another public holiday, I conveniently postponed her bath to today. Funny how bathing a little dog involves so much work on the part of the person doing the bathing and makes said person rather wet and messy whilst the dog emerges nice smelling with fluffy hair.

She absolutely hates getting wet but after nine years of baths, she is mostly resigned to it. The part she enjoys is the towel rubbing at the end of the bath and the use of the hair dryer that follows. I spend quite a bit of time making sure her hair is dry. The hair dryer I have is just for Brandy, I have never used it on myself.

Photo of Brandy is taken just after her bath. I have realised that the pictures I have of her are mostly when she is sitting or lying down on her bed. That is where she spends most of her time. I will try for an action shot but that will probably be of her eating. Favourite poses of Brandy are lying in bed, sitting in bed and eating.