Beyond ESP – One Canine’s Messaging System

Noche, our visiting German Shepherd, has made herself right at home now.  It has been about a week.

She stopped watching my every move even though she still follows me from room to room.  She leaps onto our bed and stays there until asked to leave.  She seems to fit right in, loves her romps in the fields, is never on a leash, and has never lost her appetite.  She will even let me brush her for about three minutes.

But I try to see a sudden life with strangers through a dog’s point of view.

“Who are these humans who feed me?  What happened to my other humans?  I like it here all right but I don’t feel particularly safe.  What if they leave me too?  I don’t think they really understand me. I need to leave them messages.”

There are surely inside and outside country sounds and sights that puzzle Noche – the scent of a wild fox or raccoon, the deer who wander by, turkeys and other strange roaming critters, and the noises of a country night.  Sometimes she barks midday or mid-night and waits for me to respond.  “Shhhhhh,” I say, “There is nothing there.”  And I pat her noble head.  “It’s o.k.”

Mostly we are set in a routine.  If I’m not quite awake yet, she comes to roust me out at 7:30 sharp each morning .  “Rise and shine,” she says, and “Time to eat my two handfuls of dog kibble!” Can she tell time?  I think so.  This is a brilliant dog.

I was warned that Noche leaves little messages of dissatisfaction if she is left alone.  We practiced once and she pulled down a ball of twine and unwound it a bit.  It was a clear statement, “If you must know, I don’t like being alone!” 

But yesterday was one of those inescapable days.

Noche was alone in the house for exactly 30 minutes.

The blinds are inexpensive and easily replaced.   I know she was desperate to see the road and keep a vigilant watch for returning humans.  That window now has a clear view for her.

She pulled down Bill’s jacket in the mud room and devoured the “treats” in his pocket.  Like I say, “Brilliant.”

The ball of twine that ties up our old newspapers was out again….. “Just sayin’…….

Nothing serious, nothing earth shaking.

But the result of this exercise is that Noche’s replacement humans finally “get the message.”

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