Beds

Our dog (Sam), has the same routine for bed each night. She heads into the bedroom, stretches at the edge of my side, jumps up and walks to the foot of my husband's side, does a circle and then lays down. She will lie there until just before 9 p.m. then stand up, do a full body shake, jump down off the bed by my husband's side, and curl up on her own bed located between the bed and the window. She will stay on her bed, except to get up on occasion to get a drink of water, until morning. Unless someone else gets up, then she will pop up her head and assess the situation before going back to sleep or following the person out of the room.

Once morning comes, Sam gets up, stretches, then jumps back onto my husband's side of the bed and curls up on his feet until everyone gets up. My husband usually leaves the window shade partly open, so she has a perfect view of the backyard.

Last night I went to bed early and saw that Sam had already left our bed. My husband had left his bedside light on so after I got into bed, I reached over to turn off his light. I then looked down and was shocked to see that Sam was not only lying on her bed, which had several extra layers that my husband must have added to it, but she also had her head on a pillow. I smiled thinking of my husband telling me years ago that he would never allow Sam on any of the furniture. Now she both shared his side of the bed, and had reached a point where he had now made her a human bed of her own.

Tracking

My dog loves to track things. She seems to think that she is a hunter as she will find a scent, crouch down low, and slowly follow her nose. I on the other hand are not convinced that her tracking skills are so great. She will do this crouch and follow action after picking up the scent of a cat, and not be able to find the cat that is sitting ten feet away from us. She sniffs around- carefully inspecting each blade of grass, flower, piece of dirt; but still cannot find the cat that she would have found just by taking one glance up.

The funniest is when our dog tracks in the snow. She gets as low as she can, and sniffs everywhere relentlessly, and then follows a trail. But the trail is not from a scent she has found, it is from prints that have already been made in the snow. That's our dog- the great hunter.

Bedtime

A few months ago we started to notice that our dog disappeared from the living room about the same time each night. We would call her but she wouldn't come. We would then look around and find her curled up on a small blanket on our bed. We then realized she had given herself a bedtime.

Ever since she was 'discovered' to go to bed early, our dog has often stayed out in the living room with us at night. She will often let out a sigh and put her head down, lying and watching us. One of us will then say 'go to bed' and in a flash she's up and running to the bedroom. We've tested this at other times of the day and sure enough she now responds to 'go to bed' as literally doing just that, whenever the words are spoken. It's a fun trick to show guests, and our dog never seems to mind being told to go lie down on the big bed for a while, no matter what time of day it is.

Snowballs

My dog is very furry. She has long hair, and a lot of it. She also loves the snow. This usually results in her being covered in snowballs that often take a painfully long time to melt, or pick out, after a walk or stroll outside. Even just letting her out to circle the backyard results in a significant amount of time trying to dry her off before she comes in.

Today I decided to lock her in the front room with a cookie and let the snowballs just melt on their own. I would then go in to dry her off once the snowballs were all gone; figuring that this would be significantly less work for me. The drawback is the sad and dejected look my dog has when I look through the glass door at her lying on the other side. She looks worried that she's done something wrong and I have to walk away to feel less guilty.

About 20 minutes after we arrived home and I locked my dog in the front room, I decided to look to see what the snowball status was. I was then surprised to see my dog curled up into a tiny ball on top of a chair. Under her, and on top of the chair, lay the inside of my winter jacket. My dog was so cozy that she did not even make a move when I opened the door and told her to come inside. I could see that the snowballs were gone, and my jacket was now soaking wet.

Teeth Cleaning

A couple of years ago we took our dog to the vet for her annual wellness check. She was given her shots and started on heart worm. The vet also suggested that we start brushing her teeth as there was quite significant plaque build-up in spots. I knew my dog did not have the most pearly whites anymore, but what dog does? My husband wanted to ignore this advice but I opted to give it a try, in the best interest of our dog. So I bought a dog toothbrush and toothpaste the following week.

My dog was lying down in her favourite spot on the corner of the couch when I first approached her. I held the toothbrush in my right hand and attempted to slowly and gently open up her mouth with my left hand. She let me at first until the toothbrush came within inches and she quickly slammed her mouth shut. I then tried wrapping my left arm around her in a headlock and quickly getting the brush in when she momentarily opened her mouth again. This resulted in her grabbing the toothbrush and spitting in on the floor in one quick motion. I continued to try for a good 10-15 minutes without any success so went back to the pet store and got a small brush that was placed over my finger. My dog allowed me to get my hand in her mouth for a few seconds with this one but I quickly realized how useless the brush was. It was doing absolutely nothing as I tried to brush back and forth over her teeth.

The following year we went back to the vet and he recommended that we start brushing our dog's teeth. This time we both ignored the advice.

Forming Triangles

When my husband and I are sitting in different spots in a room, my dog has the amazing ability to form perfect triangles between us. It is as though she measures the distance prior to turning in a circle and curling up on the floor with a perfect view of each of us. We've turned it into a bit of a game, quietly moving from one area of the room to the other. After a few minutes she will shift in order to re-from the triangle. However, if we do it too many times she just lets out a big 'sigh' and stays in the same place as if to give up. Even if she seems to be fast asleep on the couch when we come in, she will get up within minutes, look at where we both are, and move to the spot that forms the corner of the triangle. It is just about the only time she is willing to lie on the floor.

When My Dog Loses Her Mind

There are moments when I think my dog has lost her mind. Or she's just really excited and has way too much energy...

We don't have a big backyard but it is a decent size for being near the city's downtown. Usually we let our dog out in the back throughout the day so she can sniff around, pee here and there, and just monitor the situation in general. She will finish her loop in about 15 minutes and be ready to come back inside.

On occasion, we'll let our dog out and she will slowly start her usual walk but as soon as we close the door, she takes off at a sprint and starts running circles, as fast as she can, around the yard. She will zip around the shed, jump over the deck in 2 or 3 strides, race around our big tree, go back over the deck, run to the corner of the garden, grab one of her balls along the way, drop it, pick it up again, race back over the deck, and repeat. She'll do this over and over for up to 10 minutes or so, when she finally collapses on the lawn and pants beside her ball. Once recovered, she'll come back inside, acting as though she had just done her normal sniff-around.