This article, while explaining a dog that may actually be a lot more intelligent and intuitive than my dogs, has really started this thought process on my dogs behavioral cues. I have this nagging notion that I am more trained than they are... If anyone has ever been in my house with me, they already know my dogs are scanning me at all times. It gets a little tricky when Mojo is running around the living room, keeping an eye on the front door for that person that has never shown himself, and watching me like a hawk the.entire.time. But he manages. And Marley seems to be less concerned with me and more concerned with the inside of her eyelids, but upon careful consideration, you will notice that if I move a single muscle, at least one eye peeks out to watch me, until she is satisfied that I am not moving anywhere towards the vicinity of the kitchen. The kitchen! That amazing place where food is taunted five feet above her head!
When my phone rings, Mojo's life pauses. And he stands dead still in the middle of the room watching my cell phone as if it were actually speaking to him. And he waits for about 45 seconds. If I remain on the phone, he goes back to his business of watching me and keeping track of that ever-pesky front door. If I hang up the phone, he knows that someone was calling me from behind my building and I should be getting up to go get the door. Actually, he has actually modified my behavior! Because I very rarely get off the phone quickly now. An actual example conversation recently went like this:
Me: "Yeah, okay, no problem. But wait! Can you stay on the phone with me for a solid minute so Mojo doesn't start freaking out?"
I keep my keys hanging on the same rack as some necklaces and the dog leashes. And they exert different levels of "psychotic" depending on which hanging piece I reach for. Necklace? A little spin. Keys? Some spinning, some panting, a little whine here or there. Leash? If you live in my county, you already know this: Frantic spinning, yelps, crazed random barks, and some leg scratches if you were stupid enough to reach for the DOG LEASH while wearing shorts. And there, again, it proves that dogs aren't behaviorally trained, but they are training me. I know very well now that if I am to reach for a leash, I am to be wearing thick jeans to reduce bleeding from my knees.
And finally, Marley, who only has eyes for food. Her heart catches in her chest when I was towards my front door. And life stops for those ten seconds while she waits to see if I turn right, towards not the kitchen, or left, towards the object of her affection. And when I decide that I am indeed, kitchen-bound, she senses the movement in my foot and is in the middle of the tile floor, tail wagging, before I can even think about where I left my cup last. I have modified my behavior of leaving my cups in the kitchen, and now leave my cups on the dining room table, so as not to disturb her nap. I have left my Brita outside of the kitchen, staying less than cold, so that she is not disturbed.
I am thinking I may be the disturbed one now....
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