We all have our little habits that die hard. I tend to rub my nose when I am uncomfortable or bored or I just need to get out or move. I kind of whack my nose and have been doing that since childhood. Used to suck my thumb too but that habit had to be terminated.
But did you ever meet a dog with an unbreakable habit? I am still discovering little clues about Elsa’s personality.
Elsa is our not-so-little Rescue Dog. She used to be lift-able but no longer. Now she is well fed (maybe overfed?) as Bill and I continue to hand out halved dog treats plus plus plus. Like in the film/book Eat, Pray, Love, I have begun calling Elsa “Groceries.”
Back to bad habits that die hard.
Elsa thinks flying insects are fair game. When in the outside world she lurks, stalks, jumps, and snaps into midair and sometimes actually nabs a bumble bee! Oh Mighty Dog, Mighty Hunter!
The problem is last week she swallowed one live!
We tried to estimate how long a living bee in the system of a semi-small dog could survive but came to no conclusions.
Watching Elsa provided some explanation though.
- First, she plunged her nose in and out much like a harem dancer thrusting chin forward and back.
- Then she coughed a hollow kind of deep cough.
- Follow all that by an insane need to go out again
- Followed by a desperate need to eat grass.
- After consuming about 3 cups of grass, back inside for a restless nap filled with barking dreams,
- Then repeat all of the above plus
- Finally she began dropping her bottom to the ground again and again and again.
Can you trace the movement of the poor struggling bee trying to maneuver through a semi-small dog’s system?
I was beside myself with worry. Could it be something she ate? Like a live bumble bee? The vet was closed of course. I made up my mind to wait to the first open business day and I would take her to the vet.
After a bland dinner (chicken and rice) and a lot of in and out of the house, Elsa finally looked peaceful. Vet no longer necessary.
I have tried to tell Elsa (to no avail) that killing bumble bees is a terrible habit that has to stop. However, I now have a dog who is a serial bumble bee killer.
This morning she was on the deck on high alert. One of those great big flying predators was daring the mighty hunter.
I screamed, “NO! Don’t eat bugs!” and this time she listened but she is refreshed, happy, wagging and hungry.
And the world is full of bumble bees. Well one less after this eyewitness of the bumble bee murder.
In the checkout line at the supermarket there was a fellow ahead of me who was buying a big pile of bananas. The strange thing is I noticed the bananas before I did the guy. (Is this just another sign of aging?)
Virginia Views 