Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Mine!

I have spent today watching Habibi try to cope with a very serious problem.

I have had a house guest for the last few days.  Knowing this is a doggy house, she didn’t bring gifts for me, she brought dog gifts.  But it would have been impossible to bring something for each of the pack, so she brought a few lovely huge pieces of rawhide, which could be cut up into smaller chunks and given to the dogs.

There were two dog shows this weekend, one for the Canaans and one for the collies, and this was not Habibi’s turn to go, he is already a champion, and is not really crazy about shows, though he tolerates them for my sake.  He does always hate to be left at home when I take other dogs out, though, so in compensation, I gave him one whole huge piece of rawhide, to keep him happy and occupied for the two days of being at home.  Also, I have to admit, as compensation for expecting him to put up with an “intruder” in his house.

When we have guests, Habibi has very strict rules.  They can come in and sit down, and then he sits between me and them and watches.  Should they get up and move around, he will bark at them to inform them that this is not allowed, they have to sit still.  This does not work with people who are staying for several days.  They do get up and walk around, touch things, take food, go to the bathroom – this is very annoying to Habibi.

And then for me to take this person with me, and other dogs as well…!  Hard to forgive!

The rawhide was a high value gift, though, and by the end of the two days, a good portion of it had been chewed up.  But now, I was home, and he was not really interested for the moment in chewing. But it could not be left lying around. Maybe another of the dogs would try to steal it…maybe our house guest would try to take it!  It had to be hidden!

And here was the dilemma – in the house, there is no proper place to dig and bury treasures!

So he has been pacing around the house with the rawhide in his mouth, whining under his breath in frustration, trying to find a safe place to hide it.  He has tried to push it into corners, under the bed, in the bookcase, behind the dog bed…I found it placed carefully on the sofa under the TV blanket. He also gently placed it in the middle of the bed, pressing it down into the soft and resilient quilt, and tried with his nose to cover it with the nonexistent earth. But he is not satisfied with the security of any of these places, and goes back, fetches it, and roams around looking for something better…

So now he is lying in the living room with the rawhide under the coffee table, but within sight, so he can be sure no one touches it.

How hard it is to be responsible for valuable possessions!

Post script:  Habibi managed to hide his treasure.  I looked all over for it, and couldn’t find it. Finally I asked him, “Habibi, where is your bone?”  He went over and showed me – he managed to put it underneath a little wheeled set of drawers in the corner, where there is a knapsack on the floor in front of it.  I would never have found it there!  Of course, now he feels that he has to hide it again…

Second post script:  He has hidden it again. I have no idea where it is, and this time he refuses to tell me…

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Why I Hate Winter

I get quite depressed in the winter.  Not that there is a specific cause or a valid reason, but as the days get shorter, somehow my spirits plummet in direct proportion to the diminishing hours of light.

The depression starts at five in the morning.  Five in the morning here is pitch black night.  But for some unfathomable reason, the dogs seem to think that five in the morning in the winter and five in the morning in the summer are the same  – time to get up and start running around.  The dogs outside start to bark and play, and I get poked under my nice warm comforter by a wet, cold, and persistent nose – Habibi agrees, it is time to get up and on the move. “But it’s dark outside”, I grumble, as I try to burrow deeper under the covers.  Useless!  Within seconds, not only is there a nose poking at me, there is a wriggling whole dog. 

Not that I have anything against early morning hours.  In the summer, I am very enthusiastic at being up with the sun.  But in the winter, there is no sun at that hour. And it is cold – maybe not like in the far north, but for me, cold enough, especially when my bed is so nice and warm…Can’t you all wait until six, at least then there is some light…!

And then at four thirty in the afternoon, it is dark again!  The day is already over, when I feel that it has hardly begun, and I have certainly not managed to do the things I was planning to. 

The dogs are perfectly satisfied to go to bed with the daylight, they have been running around all day, since it is cold and fresh and they love it.  Come to think of it, that could be one reason they are up at five…maybe I should go to bed at four thirty also….

I don’t know how you people in Alaska or Finland and places like that survive the winter!

And then, there are two of the most depressing words I know – wet dog.  True that we don’t have as much rain here as in other places, but there is enough to have plenty of days in the winter when I can enjoy that indescribable smell of wet dog… The Canaans are not so bad, they dry off relatively quickly, but when the collies are wet, it takes them a long time to dry.  They are perfectly comfortable, they have their thick undercoats which keep them warm.  But the outer coat can take hours to really dry off, and meanwhile, anyplace in the house that they have decided to lie around on absorbs that dampness, so added to the wet dog, there is also wet carpet, wet dog blanket, wet sofa…

And they look so miserable when they are wet, even though they aren’t!

It isn’t even necessary to mention the mud…

The dogs love the winter. It is cool, the sun is pleasant and not too hot, and they have lots of energy for running around and barking. Habibi loves to get out on the grass with his pack of girls – Tutti, Jenny, Chance, Flash, and they all run with great enthusiasm, stopping to graze on the green grass and tender plants that apparently are very tasty.  He is full of energy and playfulness, bringing me all his toys tirelessly, while I am bundled up in my sweaters and coats trying to keep up with them all, wear them all out, and get back into the relatively warm house.

Well, one good thing – we are almost at the shortest day of the year, so soon the days will start to get longer again, and then it will be spring, and summer…so there is still room for optimism!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Things with Wings

Every self respecting Canaan knows that it is his responsibility to guard his territory, and prevent the invasion of intruders.  That seems to be a very straightforward task.  But sometimes it is not as easy as it sounds.

Habibi is very zealous in his protection of me and what belongs to us (please note, it is not what belongs to ME, it is what belongs to US).  But there is one area that seems to be very confusing, and that is the situation of things with wings.

We have a good number of birds around here, and some of them are very drawn to invading our territory. Habibi is not too worried about the little birds like finches and sparrows.  But anything from the size of a pigeon or larger is another story.

These creatures, as far as he is concerned, are definitely invading our territory.  There they are, inside our boundaries, inside our fence, sitting on our roof!  And he can’t reach them!  He runs around the yard with his nose in the air, pointing at these dangerous beings that are sitting on the telephone wire, barking at them and sometimes taking a jump into the air. But they ignore all his efforts.  Some of them, like the family of crows that come for half the year every summer to raise their new families, laugh at him, sitting up well out of reach and cackling, and sometimes dropping bits of fruit on his head.  Even when he manages to sneak up on a pigeon or crow sitting on the lawn, before he can grab it, it takes off straight up.  This is definitely not fair play!

Then there are the winged things of the night – the moths.  As we sit in the evening quietly watching television, suddenly one of them will coming whizzing around, fluttering across the screen or casting scattered shadows as it flutters around the lamp.  These also usually manage to evade Habibi’s attempts to grab them as he leaps over the furniture in pursuit, and eventually gives up in frustration.

During the summer, there are the bees, butterflies, and flying beetles that make his life a misery as he tries to protect the yard.  Flies seem to be in a different category.  Apparently they are not considered to be territorial invaders, just a nuisance – he will snap at them when they buzz around us, but doesn’t take off in pursuit.

And then there are the helicopters…Yes, once in a while, helicopters fly low over our house – just low enough to make a hellish racket and be clearly visible, so that Habibi believes that if he can just jump high enough he can catch them…So far, no luck – but there is always the next time…

There is one more invader that seems to be hard for Habibi to categorize.  Although they don’t have wings, they spend their time sneering at him from the roof and they drive him crazy.  The cats, of course – we have a number of “outdoor” cats, which we feed, but that are not pets, their job is hunting the various vermin and they do so very efficiently. They are wise to the ways of the world, and do not come into the yard where the dogs are, but they know exactly where the dogs’ boundaries are, and enjoy sitting half a meter away from the fence and calmly washing as the dogs run back and forth looking for a way through.  But what agitates Habibi is that one of their very favorite places is to sit on the roof.  He and the other dogs will stand glaring up at the little mocking faces looking down at them, or the arrogant tail twitch as they walk away, indifferent to barking and leaps in the air.  They are not things with wings, so what are they doing up there?????

How difficult life can be for a Canaan who is simply trying to do his job….