About the Dog

Recently I have been struck by my lack of commentary on any Recent World Events, such as the passing of Rev. Jerry Falwell. I am interested in World Events. I am addicted to the opinion pages in the newspaper. I have opinions of my own, and I think they are Right. And yet, when it comes to writing.... so far, I write about housework, or baking cookies, or The Dog. This morning, as we were just at the cusp of our morning walk and play time (right at the place where she usually pees) I suddenly noticed the leash was kind of light, especially for a sixty pound dog. At about the same time Scout also noticed that the leash was light (actually it had come off the harness) and took off after a rabbit. I ran (or limped, actually) over to the gate so that Scout would not run out. In the meantime and for the first time ever, Scout caught a rabbit. And she was (shall I say) proud of herself, but not so proud that she was going to let me get near enough to take it away from her.

It also meant that when I said, "Scout, Come!" in my brightest, most dog-appealing voice, she just laid down and looked at me. And licked the rabbit.

At least she looked at me.

Every once in awhile she would pick up the rabbit and take it to another part of the yard. A couple of times she let me come very near (that's very good for a dog who was formerly extremely possessive) and would sit for me while I gave her a treat. But I could tell from her posture that she regarded the rabbit as hers. She wasn't going to do the the friendly Golden Retriever "here's what I caught for you" kind of thing. She was, if provoked going to defend this rabbit with whatever kind of scare tactics she could think of. It could be an interesting morning.

But one thing is -- she didn't seem interested in eating the rabbit. She just carried it around in her mouth and licked it and chewed it a little (maybe wondering if it would squeak, like one of her toys?)

Now we are not veteran dog owners. I'm a cat owner from way back. I had a fat blended-Siamese cat for about 18 years. My husband had cats too, but now he's allergic. What possessed us to get a dog is a subject for another post. But what I'm saying is: I was not an expert, going in, on things like Dominance, Possessiveness, "Alpha", training (other than potty training), body language. We had a little dog when I was a teenager, but he never caught a rabbit. So I'm still not sure I have the right instincts about what to do in certain situations.

We did finally find a way to remove Scout from the rabbit. Now maybe that was a mean thing to do. Maybe we should have just left her there all morning, hunched over. Or maybe we should be meaner than we are. Maybe if we were really good dog trainers, we would have a dog that would catch a rabbit, and then run over to us, and drop it at our feet, smiling.

But we don't. We have Scout, the wonder dog. She's not perfect, but then, I'm not perfect either. Maybe that's why we're Right For Each Other.