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.