The Little Pack

Dixie had just finished licking the plate after we had spaghetti for dinner. I’m pretty sure that when the vet said, absolutely nothing except her food, he didn’t mean, oh and leftover spaghetti too. She has no idea the evidence is all over her face.

Dixie is going through an extraordinarily naughty stage. We think that she is testing her boundaries but oh my! She is something else lately. She seems to be deliberately  misbehaving. Little does she know that she has nothing on Cheyenne. If I made it through the tough times with her, I can make it through anything!

Tonight Cheyenne obeyed my (almost) every word. She sat every time I asked her to sit down, laid down every time I asked her to  lay down and even went to the door when I asked her to go inside. Better yet, she was extremely excited when I told her she was a good girl. Of course, she celebrated by chasing down and smashing the kitty. But no matter. She cared what I thought. Outside, when I used my serious voice, she stopped in her tracks and sat. And when we came inside she was submissive to me–she laid down and rolled over without me asking. Is this the beginning of her wanting to please me?

Tonight Cheyenne was obsessively pawing at me–my arms, my face. I asked her “What do you need to do?” (which means “Sit”, don’t even ask…) and she sat, but continued to paw, inlcuding trying to paw at my feet when I told her no paws. Sigh… that’s a Shoo-Shy for you, desperately trying to find the loop hole. So anyway, I pointed at the floor in front of me and said, more to myself than anything, “If you want loves, you need to lay down.” I had absolutely no expectations. After a (very) prolonged period she sighed, laid down, and rolled over! I was stunned. I hadn’t even said it as though I was asking her to do anything. Which only proves just how intelligent she really is, and also just how uncooperative she really is. It isn’t that she doesn’t understand what is being asked of her, its that she doesn’t understand why she should comply with my requests. I had stopped touching her and she really wanted attention. I am beginning to think that she is affection motivated, even though I have never heard of such a thing. Hey whatever works. Even if it is only 60% of the time.