Older Dog Wisdom: Tux 40 - Thanks Giving

There is much to be thankful for in Tux’s home this year.

We survived his sister Grace’s cancer scare. Grace and I fought minor seasonal allergies while Tux fought not only seasonal allergies, but food and environmental allergies as well. Tux had periods of time when he was allergy free, for which we are all thankful 

We survived tornadoes, wind storms, snow storms, ice, sleet, prolonged periods of high temperatures, and other weather-related issues. We managed to go through four or five tornado warnings without having to huddle in the basement waiting for the house to come down around our ears. We hate basements. 

When we weren’t huddled together against the elements, we enjoyed periods when it was a joy to get out, go to a favorite park and walk a mile or two with ease. We enjoyed nearly daily walks in parks. We survived an attack by a snarling devil dog (thanks to Grace, who nipped the much larger dog on the ear and he retreated). We met many people in the parks - with and without dogs of their own. Some stop and pet Tux and Grace every time we see them while others comment on how cute they are. Grace loves the latter people. We’ve watched the parks we walk in change with the seasons, going from admiring the newly budded trees, to the awful heat where everyone and everything tries to survive, to the beauty of fall colors to the freezing cold and snow on the ground.

Tux is especially grateful for his toys - from the oldest (11 years old) to the newest.

Yes, we have much to be thankful for - including each other. Tux and Grace have brought much laughter to their humans with their antics. Grace can do silly things and remain dignified while Tux can do dignified things and look silly. Always, always, they are at the door to greet us when we come home for which we are thankful. They are grateful because we go for walks and we feed them at regular intervals. Who can ask for anything more than that?

Older Dog Wisdom: Tux 36 - Missed Opportunity

Our walk was, for all practical purposes, well, uneventful. The weather was cool as the sun had barely risen over the rooftops of the neighborhood’s homes. It was a welcome relief from the days of sweltering temperatures during the day and humid nights. The breeze that occasionally kicked up as we strolled along the path was both welcome  and raising the hope that this day wouldn’t turn ugly on us.

As we turned the corner to head back to the car, I noticed a small creature standing in front of us. It was only barely on the sidewalk and would have been unnoticeable had it been in the nearby grass. 

I waited for Tux to snap into hunter mode, but he seemed not to see the creature. Even Grace seemed not to notice the lurking creature. A dog bark from somewhere across the street caught Tux’s attention. He stared hard into the neighborhood hoping to catch sight of loud-mouthed dog. 

We moved slowly up the sidewalk, but the creature declined to remove itself from our path. Did it not realize the danger it was in? We did, after all, have an intrepid hunter with us who, if he ever sighted the creature, would hunt it down. Instead of fleeing, it continued to hold its ground.

I began to think that maybe it was injured and unable to leave the eminent danger a mere 18 inches away. It was then that I realized that this was no creature. It was bird. A baby bird. A baby Cardinal. No wonder it was sitting placidly on the sidewalk. It had no experience with someone like Tux. The closer we got, the clearer it became that it was, indeed, a baby Cardinal.

Just as I was deciding to take Tux and Grace on a detour, the baby flew away, although it had a tough time gaining altitude. At the same time, Tux finally noticed it. He was totally stunned as he watched it fly away.

Lesson Learned

Tux had once again missed an opportunity to be a real hunter. Do we humans do the same thing? Do we miss opportunities because we are distracted by the equivalent of a barking dog?

Older Wisdom: Tux 35 - Squirrelly Behavior

We were in the park the other day and saw something I’d never seen before. First, though, I heard a new sound. It wasn’t yet another bird’s song I didn’t recognize. The sound sounded familiar yet wasn’t. So what was it?

Tux spotted a movement on a tree and stopped dead in his tracks staring at a tree about 20 feet in front of us. Grace was unperturbed and continued her quest for new smells in the three-inch-high grass. 

I looked around trying to see what had caught Tux’s attention. There was nothing that I could see that was out of the ordinary. In the distance, I saw the Mallards amiably strolling toward their neck of the woods and the pond in the ravine. Across the street from the park, the Westies were sunning themselves in the early morning sun. Nope, nothing extraordinary going on in the park. But Tux was like a statue - standing rigidly still, one front paw pulled up in his classic hunter’s stance. 

As I looked up in the direction that Tux was staring in so intently, I finally saw what he had seen. It was a squirrel. Nothing unusual about seeing a squirrel in the park. This squirrel though, was quite different. He had a plastic cup in his mouth. And he wasn’t about to drop it just because some Cocker Spaniel hunter came into view. He was angry at being disturbed. He was chittering at us, but the sound came out muffled as he chittered behind his cup.

The squirrel had stopped in his tracks and was starring at Tux. Tux stared back at the squirrel. I stared at the squirrel. The squirrel ignored me. It was Tux he was interested in. Grace finally figured out that Tux and I were mesmerized by something so she looked in the direction we were looking. She saw the squirrel and then she looked at me as if to ask what was so interesting about a silly old squirrel?

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’d never seen a squirrel carrying even a branch let alone a plastic cup. I couldn’t imagine what had struck this squirrel about the cup. One thing was for sure, though, he was not going to drop his cup. Before I could dig my iPhone out of my pocket to take a photo of the squirrel, he was on the move.

The squirrel surprised me. Instead of heading up the tree and to safety, he came down the tree toward the ground. What was he thinking? Down he came. About six inches from the ground, he jumped down. Sprinting toward another tree, he jumped onto it and scurried upward.

In the meantime, we all stood stock still watching the squirrel. He never dropped his precious cup. I surmised he had headed to his home tree. I suspected, too, he had a nest in the tree he risked life, limb, and cup to reach. I looked upward, but saw no discernible nest in the boughs of the large tree. 

Tux was reluctant to leave the scene. He undoubtedly thought that either the squirrel with his cup still firmly gripped between his teeth would return or this was a trend and another squirrel with a cup would come down the tree. Neither event occurred and I dragged him back onto the path and on to our morning walk.

Lesson Learn:

Keep an eye out for the unexpected.

Older Dog Wisdom: Tux 27 - Taking Action

Tux got another fan letter. Let the strutting around the 

house like a peacock begin. For a very cute older dog, he can be insufferable. One of the first things he did, after he stopped bouncing around doing his imitation of a happy dance, was to take Grace’s spot on the couch. Grace is his sister and rival for the position of Alpha Dog in the family. She immediately retaliated by climbing onto my chair with me - a place Tux claims as his own. She asked for pets. Despite not wanting to take sides in this ongoing battle between the two of them, what choice did I have? I gave her the pets she wanted.  She kept glancing over shoulder to ensure that he was watching. He was.

That was too much for Tux. He jumped down from the couch and headed our way. He, too, climbed into my lap. Grace shifted positions to make it harder for him to lie down. He did it anyway. Not only was he uncomfortable, but now so was I. I may have to buy a double recliner if this keeps up, I thought. They both settled in for a nap. While I usually keep a book nearby, on this day there was no book. I couldn’t very well get my laptop out - there wasn’t enough room for me, two Cocker Spaniels, and my laptop. Never did it occur to me to push either or both dogs off. Can we say spoiled Cocker Spaniels?

While I sat pondering what to do next, Grace jumped down and reclaimed her spot on the couch. Tux looked surprised. I continued to watch him and finally, several minutes later, I saw the light dawn. Grace had duped him. She had tricked him into giving up her spot on the couch. He’d been had - again. She has become a master at duping Tux. He’s not the brightest star in the array, but he usually catches on eventually. And he is so very cute and trusting while he ponders what just happened.

Lesson Learned

Watching Tux and Grace, I’ve learned to think about the consequences of my action before I take action. While the initial satisfaction of an action taken in haste may be worth it, more likely than not, the consequence of a rashly taken action taken during the heat of the moment, often turns out badly. Perhaps taking a few minutes to ponder the possible consequences of action might provide some perspective, show us what could go wrong. Who was it who said, “If something can go wrong, it will?” Tux can certainly attest to that - time and time again.

Older Dog Wisdom: Grace 3 - Past Prime

Grace is the extrovert of the family. She loves people. Let me be more precise, she loves being the center of attention. There have only been a couple of people who she didn’t like. One was a vet who had fast hands and no bed-side manner, and misdiagnosed the cancer that caused her toe to be amputated. The other was a rude plumber who, as it turns out, was incompetent. Grace had been right to not like both those men.

We were out for our walk one morning recently. We were in the park by 6:00 am (and it was already 80 degrees and humid). We passed by a dog we’d never seen before and its owner. Then there was another walker, a woman. Grace was doing her best to charm the woman. Her tail was going a mile a minute. She was at her most charming. The woman, however, was apparently immune to Grace’s charms. The woman ignored her.

Grace isn’t used to being ignored. It had all begun when she was a puppy. She was as cute as the day is long. Wherever we went, people would come to her oohing and ahhing over how cute she was. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to rub her tiny soft ears, caress her silky-soft coat, and watch the tiny tail wagging so fast that it appeared that it could make her fly. This adoration continued. Now, however, the adoration is fading. 

Grace is crushed. She looked at me with disbelief in her big brown eyes. When we got home, I sat down and she crawled up into the chair with me. She looked positively depressed.

I had to explain to her that in this society being young is more important than the wisdom that elders have. I explained to her that humans ignore their elders, and make them feel like they don’t exist. Unlike the Chinese, for instance, who revere their elders, we Americans look away from our elderly. I explained that as she ages (she’s now 11) and due to no fault of her own, she, too, will be ignored. There will always be a puppy who, while no cuter than she is, it will, nevertheless, have the upper hand because of its age. 

It’s not fair, Grace told me. 

No, it’s not fair. But it is what it is.

Well, shame on anyone who believes that age should factor into whether I’m the cutest.

Yes, shame on us, I replied.

She felt a little better, but I could tell, she wasn’t ready to give up her title of the cutest Cocker Spaniel ever.

Lesson Learned

It is a shame to ignore an elderly person. Instead, when you see an elder - be it a human or a dog - give a smile and say hello. You will have made that person’s day because you didn’t treat her like she didn’t exist. The same can be true of dogs. They love the attention and pick up from your voice and pets that you think they’re special enough not to ignore.

Older Dog Wisdom 15: Searching for What You Need

Tux had a crisis today. His favorite plush toy of all time went missing. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. He was rushing from room to room looking in all the places where his toys end up - under the dresser, on the living room couch, in his toy box (yes, he has a toy box, and yes, it has quite a few toys in it - one can accumulate lots of toys in 11 years). When he started searching the same rooms a second time, I knew something was amiss.

Toy Crisis

I knew we were having one of our toy crisis. It hasn’t happened often, but it has happened before that he has lost a toy. Usually, though the toy has been accidentally kicked under a piece of furniture or fallen between the bed and the cedar chest or was in the washer/dryer. This time though, there were no toys in the usual places. 

I offered him his plush hamburger, but he turned his nose up at it. Next, I tried his multi-colored fish, but that wasn’t what he needed either. I tried another hamburger (he has three), a rat-looking thing, a hedgehog (I told you he had a few toys), and finally a hot dog. None of those were the one he was looking for.

He finally sat down in the middle of the family room and looked at me with those big brown plaintive eyes. Could a severe depression be far behind? Seldom had I wished he could actually speak as I did at that moment. What toy was missing? I ran through a mental list of the toys I could remember giving him. Which one was missing?

Knowing What You’re Hunting For

Aha, I fairly shouted. It was his blue, pink, and white plush ball. The ball was the first toy I had given him when he was six weeks old. Then, he hadn’t been much bigger than the ball. He has treasured that ball from the beginning. It is the toy of choice when he’s stressed - after a visit to the vet or groomer, for instance, he will always go for the ball when he returns home. 

Now that I knew what we were looking for, I joined in the hunt. But even I couldn’t find it. I even asked Grace, his sister, if she knew where it was. Grace had been lying on the couch on one of the green throw pillows the entire time Tux and I had been toy hunting. She had never been one to join in on these frenzied quests for a toy. 

Know When to Admit Defeat

I finally admitted defeat. I couldn’t imagine where the toy had gotten to. As means of distracting Tux, I opened the back door and invited him to go out. Grace immediately jumped off the couch because she only passes up an opportunity to go outside when she doesn’t feel well. 

Toy Found At Last!

After Grace went out (Tux had refused to leave the house and his toy), I once again went in search of his toy. I found it in about two minutes. Grace had been lying on top of it the entire time. It had been beneath the green pillow she’d been lying on.

I have to wonder if Grace knew all along that Tux's toy was beneath her. Something tells me that she did. Their struggle for the title of Alpha Dog took an ugly turn today.

Looking in All the Wrong Places

As writers, we often are in search of something - words, character names, titles, agents, and publishers, to name but five things we hunt for. 

It doesn’t take us long to find out where to look for things - a thesaurus for words, a baby names web site for character names, querytracker.net for agents, etc. 

Like Tux, we exhaust all the usual sources first. Sometimes, though, a thesaurus doesn’t give us what we want. What then? 

Then, we need to learn to look outside the box. I found the Bookshelf Muse one day when I was looking for another word for black, as in black hair, raven hair, etc. The Bookshelf Muse has thesauri for emotions, settings, and colors, textures, and shapes. Visit her blog the next time you find yourself searching for just the right word for “pink” when “pink” won’t do. There is a wealth of information there. Find her at http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com.

Finding What You Want and Need

Search long enough, and you’ll find what you want and need just as Tux did the morning he went in search of his favorite toy. Granted, he didn’t find it by himself. There will be times when we won’t find what we want either. Then, like Tux, it’s time to turn to your friends.