Janey , the Jordanian girl,
is now living in the house, She is due
to have puppies in a few weeks, and I decided that since she is due at the time
of the year when we might have absolutely the worst weather of the winter,
better for her to be inside. In actual fact,
Canaans have no trouble with the conditions outdoors, and many of my bitches
over the years have had their puppies in the kennel in a well protected
whelping box. But Janey has decided, for
reasons that are not clear to me, that going into a dog house is unnecessary
pampering for a Canaan . In the heaviest
rainstorms, I can look out and see her curled up in a tight little ball in the
middle of the yard, empty comfortable and dry dog houses on each side…
So since I prefer that new
puppies have the basic comforts, I decided to bring her in. At this point, I am beginning to wonder if
this was not her plan from the beginning.
Just coming into the house
was not her agenda. The plan was to take
over the house. After a quick
inspection, she immediately decided what were the most comfortable and
desirable spots, and that these spots were HERS.
My house in fact belongs to
Habibi, he is the king here. Other dogs
tread softly around him, and know that the spot next to the sofa under my hand
is his, and also that all toys, bones, and other amusements are not to be
touched without his specific permission.
But not Janey. She immediately set her sights on the spot
next to the sofa, wormed her way in between Habibi and me, and then had the
nerve to growl ferociously at him to warn him to back off!
One thing that most people
do not realize about dogs is that almost without exception, males are
gentlemen. They back down to the
females, even when the girls do not deserve it.
Whatever explanations the behavior experts want to give to this is not
really relevant, it is simply a fact – the dog world is much more polite and
respectful to the female of the species than we are.
So Habibi backed off, with a
rueful glance at me, to ask why I felt the need to let this troublesome
creature in to his domain. Not even a
little growl in return. Not even a lift
of the lip. Just a little twitch of the
whiskers…
Janey then decided that she
would take over one of Habibi’s bones.
He watched her carry it over to the carpet and start chewing away at it,
pondering what was the best course of action.
Finally, he simply walked over to her and, without any sort of
threat aside from a bit of stiffness in
his posture, he gently and very delicately picked the bone up and walked
away.
Janey is no fool. She knows that even politeness has its
limits. Ears back and head down, she
rolled over on her side to show her well developed belly, and let Habibi take
the bone.
She still keeps possession
of the spot next to the sofa, but Habibi has the privilege of getting on the
sofa and curling up on my feet. There is
no way that Janey will be allowed to do this.
But the looks that I see on
Habibi’s face as he watches this presumptuous lady are priceless and
indescribable, but highly expressive.
