How Dogs "Know" Things

Mummy said I should try and explain dogs’ intuitions to you all. That’s a big subject, but I’ll try. (And remember, I’m only 2, so I don’t know everything yet!!)

First of all, everyone knows that Cesar Millan talks a lot about “calm assertive energy”. We dogs pick up on that so fast, we don’t even know we’re doing it! 

But a second factor in the equation – yes, I’m studying math.... ;0) – is the temperament of the dog. In my case, I am described by everyone who has ever known me - from Sara France to my mom, to her friends and the neighbours – as a “laid back” Coton. Of course, we all know there is really no such thing as a laid back Coton, but compared with others, that describes me pretty well. I love to play as much as the next dog, but I don’t mind sitting around looking at the scenery when my mom is talking to someone. If she wants to stay home and read, that’s fine. I’ll have a nap or visit the neighbours. So I have a fairly calm energy myself. I’m also somewhat assertive, but I do give way to older dogs that I should respect, like Ciera. If she tried to eat my food, it kind of ruined my appetite anyway, so I let her. I knew Mummy would give me some more later.

My friend Bean, who is now living with another family, but who used to live with Auntie Moira, was a nervous dog. He had never spent enough time with a family to know the protocols of family living – like where to go potty. Nor had he learned that a human can protect him. He was so used to having to protect himself that he was always on the look-out for trouble, when we went for walks. Trouble is, Auntie Moira was also on the look-out for potential problems, since she was afraid Bean would attack other humans and dogs. It was a case of Auntie Moira being a bit of a worrier anyway, even before she rescued Bean, and Bean being a worrier too. So neither of them ever got relaxed about going out for walks.

The reason I say he didn’t trust his mom to take care of herself is that he “knew” intuitively, that she wasn’t comfortable herself !! Auntie Moira just can’t stand the thought of bothering other people so she was nervous.

You might ask, well, who doesn't mind bothering other people? True, but as an example, my mom just doesn’t expect that either one of us is going to upset anyone. It’s not that she doesn’t care; it just doesn’t occur to her. I’m the same way. I have always expected people and other dogs to like me, since I almost always like them, so neither Mummy nor I are worrying about anything when we go out. Normally....

But things were different on Tuesday. Actually before Tuesday, Ciera and I noticed that Mummy was getting a bit tense. She was trying to get our apartment cleaned up and wearing herself out, doing it. Ciera and I knew that the way she was working was unusual - for her. She was pushing herself too hard. Also, we weren’t getting the same walks we normally get. Something was going on!!

When Mummy started unloading the trunk of the car one day, we began to zero in on what was happening. All of a sudden, stuff I’d never seen before was coming out of that trunk, and most of it smelled like Uncle Jim and Auntie Clare!! We hadn’t smelled them in MONTHS!!! And some of the stuff also smelled like Ciera! Some of her stuff turned out to be in the trunk of the car, too. (Mummy had packed a lot of her things in the trunk, since Ciera didn’t need them, and we are short on space at home.)

OK, so this told us that, whatever was going on, it must have something to do with Ciera, and her mom and dad. Of course, Ciera wasn’t sure what it was, so she got worried, and then, so did I. Well, when Mummy took Ciera to the groomer, we both wondered if there was some connection. Was Mummy going to give Ciera away to someone else – like the groomer, or someone who would be visiting him? When she left Ciera there, I was hoping she had just forgotten her..... Boy, was I ever glad when we went back and got her later!!

But we were doing other weird things that day. Getting the car washed. There were a lot of strange looking little people crawling all over the car and shooting us with hoses. It was a bit scary, and Ciera and I were already nervous. We could tell Mummy was nervous too. She was in a hurry and a bit impatient with us. Plus, you know how people – and animals – give off pheromones telling us when they are nervous, angry, happy or even sick. Yep, we were sure getting that message.


We went home, and Mummy was still rushing around. We didn’t even have time for dinner!! And then back we piled into the car and drove out to the airport!!! Well, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going any place, but Ciera and I both began to wonder if maybe she was. 

Neither one of us was expecting what really happened though!!

When Mummy took us over to where the escalator was, we sat very quietly, because we were worried and overwhelmed. People don’t communicate well with dogs, because their human noses don’t work very well, and they don’t know how to read – or give – body language. When I suddenly heard Uncle Jim cry out, “There they are!” I was thrilled, because now I knew that we had a happy reason for being at the airport. I was so thrilled I ran right over to him for a kiss, forgetting all about poor Ciera, who couldn’t see or hear him. It took her a long time to figure things out, because of that, along with all the commotion and smells of other people arriving and meeting their own families.


When she finally realised that her mom and dad had come home, she wasn’t too sure that she was safe yet, even after we all got in the car together. She was “reading” Uncle Jim and Auntie Clare’s vibes, and they were not happy campers. It had been a very long day for them; in fact, it had been a very long 5 1/2 months! Well, you know how it is when you’re already worried and upset and have been rushing around and not having your nap – or even dinner? You’re already psyched for bad news, and nothing that was happening was making things seem better. We had to drive to unfamiliar places and park, and Auntie Clare got out of the car and left us all.... We dogs had no idea that she was going into the Safeway to get groceries!

Finally, however, we did get back to her place, and the first thing Ciera did was sniff her familiar patches of grass while the humans stood around. When we went into her own apartment, it smelled funny, because strangers had sub-let the place for a few months but, since it was after 9:00 at night and the proper time, Mummy tossed bits of lamb and rice treats on the kitchen floor, which turns out to be where Ciera’s parents do it, and she began to feel better. We both did, plus.... we were hungry!! 

Next thing you know, Auntie Clare was making up the bed with fresh sheets and horsing around with Ciera the way she always used to, so Mummy and I felt a whole lot better about things when we left to have Uncle Jim drive us back home. That was last Tuesday.

........................................................................

Today - the next Tuesday - we had a BIG surprise!! (At least, I did!) The doorbell rang, and Mummy told me Ciera was here! I flew off the bed and raced down the hall to meet her. I was so excited to see that she was OK, that I couldn’t stop flinging myself on her and hugging her!! Mummy and Auntie Clare sat around and talked for a while, then we all went to Whole Foods and got lunch to eat outside, the way we always used to. It was just so great to see Ciera and her mom and to know that Ciera is a LOT happier, now she knows her mom didn’t abandon her 5 months ago, and everything is OK after all!!


Anyway, I hope this helps you understand a bit more about how dogs’ “intuition” works, that you will be able to figure out how to communicate better with your dog, or at least learn how to figure out what your dog is thinking....


Well, I need my nap now.....

Ciera has Gone Home

There sure have been a lot of changes around here in the last few days!!

Ciera had to go to the groomer on Tuesday. She was really dirty, because we’d been to the offleash beach 3 times last week! I don’t get quite as dirty as Ciera does, because I don’t have oil in my hair, and the sand and dust just fall out. On Ciera, it sticks. Then it gets on “her” pillowcase”!

Mummy was acting a bit funny that day, and I wasn’t sure what was up. When we left Ciera at the groomer, I waited outside and kept looking back, to tell Mummy we had forgotten her! But Mummy said, no, we’d come back and get her later, which we did. I was so glad to see Ciera – don’t ask me why!! – that I ran up to her and threw my arms around her neck. I don’t think she was quite as glad to see me, though..... But then, she doesn’t see anything very well.

Mummy had been busy un-packing things from the trunk of the car, bringing them upstairs and packing them again. (I don’t understand humans sometimes.) Once the car was completely empty, we took it to the hand car wash. That was kind of fun, because there were a lot of short dark people in red coveralls hosing the car down and smiling at us. After a while, we got out of the car and watched, along with some other people who were doing the same thing. Some little girls came over and played with us, too. Their mom was really pretty and nice. She had 3 little girls and a baby in one arm! Another woman came along, who also liked me. She was waiting for a Volkswagen Beetle convertible. It looked like a car to me, though.

After that, we went home, loaded up the car with all the stuff we’d taken out of it – Mummy said we’d done that, so the dark skinned people could vacuum the trunk – and drove to the airport. I’ve been there once or twice before, and so has Ciera.

There was a sign on the terminal door that said “No Dogs” but Mummy says we aren’t dogs; we’re puppies!! So we all went in and stood around something called a baggage carousel. Lots of people came past and stopped to say hello to me. For some reason, most of them were men. They got right down on my level and messed with my hair! Ciera didn’t pay any attention to them, though. Soon some people began to arrive in that room, so Mummy took us over to a place called an escalator to watch the people coming down stairs without moving their legs! 
Ciera and I stood there politely, wondering why Mummy wanted to be there – and at first we thought it was so the people could stop and say hello to us. Then, out of nowhere, we heard a familiar voice, calling out, “There they are!” and suddenly who did we see?? Why, it was Uncle Jim and Auntie Clare, Ciera’s dad and mom!! I was so thrilled I ran right over to the bottom of the escalator with my tail going in circles, so I could say hello!!

Uncle Jim moved to one side though, so the people behind him could come down. Meanwhile, Ciera sat there, not knowing what was going on!! Mummy took her over to see her mom and dad, and eventually she recognised him.... but not her own mom!!!! I could see that Auntie Clare was really hurt by that, but she was just standing there, and Jim was on the floor with Ciera, so that might be why. Poor Ciera was getting really disoriented! She kept looking for my Mummy, instead of her own. When Auntie Clare finally picked her up, Ciera struggled to get away! But when Uncle Jim picked her up, that was OK. When we were all leaving the terminal, one of those information women came rushing over to us to tell us that dogs aren’t allowed in there!! That’s probably because earlier, Mummy had been a wee bit sneaky, detouring around racks of carts whenever she saw Airport Security or anyone else with a uniform on, and waiting for Jim and Clare behind a pillar.....

Uncle Jim got in our car and drove us all to the Safeway to get some food for their place, since they’d been away 5 1/2 months, then we went back to their place. Ciera was finally feeling a bit better, because she got to sit on her mom’s lap on the way, and she recognised their building and the yard. She was happy to sniff all her favourite clumps of grass, but when Uncle Jim went to the front door and called her to come, she didn’t hear him and carried on walking away, sniffing. Mummy and I are used to that, but Uncle Jim must have forgotten that Ciera is deaf, because the next thing he did was whistle for her! Of course, Ciera kept right on going, and Mummy was mesmerised, she said, and just stood there, until Uncle Jim finally let the door go and went and got Ciera. We had to do that all the time when Ciera was living here!

I was glad we got to go inside and see where Ciera lived. She remembered it well, and went straight to the kitchen, looking for food. Her mom and dad were busy – Jim was turning on lights and checking to see how the place looked after a few people had stayed there, and Clare was putting fresh sheets on the bed. Mummy knew what time it was, though, so she got some of the lamb and rice sticks from the food bag that we’d packed for Ciera’s dinner and breakfast and threw them on the kitchen floor. I thought I’d like some too, though, so Mummy threw 2 sticks. Neither Ciera nor I had had any dinner with all the stuff that was going on.

Then Ciera got to play with her mom who was throwing sheets and pillows around on the bed. I guess they always do that, because Ciera was pouncing on the pillows Clare was shaking into cases, and jumping around under a sheet Clare threw on top of her. Clare tried to do the same thing with me, but Mummy and I don’t play when she’s making the bed, so I was just scared. We play when Mummy and I are in the already made-up bed, instead!! I like to jump on Mummy and lick her to death, and bite her hand under the sheets, and have her wrestle me to the mattress and rub-a-dub-dub my tummy!

We left them there and Uncle Jim drove us home. He was really tired! They had flown from the Canary Islands, but not Tenerife, to Madrid, to Toronto and finally to Vancouver. It took them 21 hours!! And I don’t think either of them was in a good mood when they got home!!

It was weird coming home and having the bed all to myself, but I had never slept on the pillows Ciera took over, anyway. Since then, I get to eat my dinner without “someone” looking over my shoulder and trying to get to it first!! But I kind of liked Mummy feeding me by hand, so I’m holding out for more of that!

Now we don’t have the car any more, we have been walking to the stores to get things. This is fine, though, because we can walk a LOT faster without Ciera! This afternoon, we walked to Dundarave, which – when Ciera was here – took about an hour. Without Ciera, it maybe took 20 minutes! And I got to play with my toys all the way over and back, too!! Mummy said she was so thrilled when we had to cross a busy street, and we didn’t have to stop in the middle and go looking for Ciera, or go and grab her if she was ahead.

So I don’t think I miss Ciera as much as I thought I would. Besides, the night we left Ciera at her own home, we came home and ran into Debby and Bubbles right away! We always go for walks with them at night anyway, so that was no different from usual, except we could walk faster.


The next day after she left us, we had a visit with Moira and Taffy and saw almost every dog we know in the neighbourhood! So the only change in our routine is that we don’t have to keep watching out for Ciera all the time and can have more fun. And.... Mummy can stop and talk to her friends, because I always sit right there and wait while she does it. Ciera always kept wandering off.

Yesterday, I had a bath, so that took a lot of time. Mummy likes the Tropiclean Puppy Shampoo for me and even more for herself! Mummy has grey hair that she lies to pretend is still blonde, and it makes it look much shinier. We aren’t quite as delighted with the conditioner, though. It does a good job, but it takes a LOT of rinsing to get it out! We learned from Sonya Paterson that you have to rinse the conditioner out really well, or my hair gets sticky really fast. With the Vellus, the shampoo is harder to rinse out, but the conditioner is easy!

This afternoon, Auntie Moira dropped in for a while, then a former neighbour of Mummy’s came for tea. When we went to Dundarave (high street) I met a lady in a wheelchair who was pretty and maybe in her mid-40s, but she had twisted hands and mumbled a bit. Mummy thinks she might have cerebral palsy. I sat on the lady’s lap and got quite comfortable, while she and her handsome boyfriend chatted with Mummy.

We also stopped to talk to Kenya the cat’s mom. She said he was inside eating dinner, but if we waited, she’d see if he wanted to come out and say hi. He did, but then he started to cross the street with a car coming!! Whoa!! I ran out to the middle of the street to get him to come back, but he wouldn’t follow me. Then Mummy ran out and picked ME up instead, while Kenya just strolled to the far side of the street. We felt sorry for the poor driver, who was waiting and waiting, thinking something was wrong with the cat! No, he just goes across the street, his mom said, to catch birds!!
 

Now it’s time for my dinner. It looks OK, but I’m going to see if I can get Mummy to persuade me to eat it!! ;0)

Chanel's 2nd Birthday

My birthday was on September 2nd, and I was 2 years old! Mummy says that means I’m almost a grown-up now! I’m not sure what she meant by that, though. Like, is there something I have to stop doing, or something I have to start doing, or some way I’m supposed to think about the world around me? I guess I’ll find out soon enough, so I won’t worry about it. I’m not really a worrier, anyway. My goal in life is to have a good time, and I don’t think that’s going to change. Mummy says that’s always been her ambition too, and she hasn’t changed even though she’s MUCH older than I am!!

We really celebrated my big day, too!! Mummy told me how important my birthday is, because if it weren’t for my birthday, I wouldn’t be here! First thing we did was get the birthday cakes. I would have been quite happy with the Dairy Queen ice cream log, but Mummy insisted on getting me a real doggie birthday cake. It was a brown layer cake in the shape of a heart, with a little round liver treat on top, and it sure was delicious! We went down to Auntie Moira’s place and got Taffy and Moira to help us eat the goodies. Mummy even put 2 pink candles on one of the cakes. She said she would have put them on MY cake, but it was too hard to get the candles into it, so she put them on the ice cream instead.

After we wore Auntie out, Ciera and I got to go to the beach and strut around. I was wearing my red and white party collar, which looked really great with my red bow and red leash. A lot of people stopped to admire me and say, “Happy Birthday”.

We watched a lot of big dogs running around on the beach and swimming after logs and frisbees their parents threw for them. I have a frisbee too, but I don’t like to get my feet wet. In fact, I don’t like to play fetch very much, either. What I like to do with a frisbee is bring it back near Mummy, but not too close, and then wrestle her for it!! We have lots of fun doing that! We go eyeball to eyeball and growl at each other.... and I think I win more than she does!

Anyway, we weren’t playing frisbee on Thursday, so when I met a Havanese puppy who was in the same mood as I, we had a great time chasing each other around, growling and jumping on each other!! It was lots of fun!

 

 

Ciera was with us, but she never plays. She’s too old, but Mummy says Ciera has never played with a toy in her entire life!! That’s hard to believe! I wonder what she did for all those years, if she never played?? It must have been really boring!

Today, when we went for our first walk, which is always around the block, we came across Uncle Angus, who lives there. He was really happy to see me, and I was just as happy to see him. He even decided to walk with us the rest of the way around the block. He just broke up with his girlfriend, and I think he’s lonely and hurting, so we were glad to cheer him up.

He says he wants to go for more walks with us..... He even tells Mummy how good looking she is, but he’s way younger than she is!! Maybe he thinks she’s rich – hahaha!! Besides, Mummy isn’t very good looking now, because she had a big skin cancer taken off her nose, and it’s still bruised and swollen!! Yuk!!

Later on, we went to the beach again. We never get tired of it, because we always meet lots of other dogs there! Lots of other nice people, too. And tonight, we went for a walk on the Seawalk with Auntie Debbie and Bubbles. Ciera is getting used to me at long last – after 5 1/2 months! She has touched noses with me a couple of times in the last week, and even smelled my bum today!

Trouble is, her mum is coming home from Europe on Tuesday and wants her back. Ciera doesn’t know that yet, though, because she’s deaf. Mummy says Ciera will be really glad to see her mum and dad, even though she hasn’t seen them in such along time. I just don’t know if she’ll be glad when she gets home, and I’m not there.

Actually, I’m not sure if I’ll be glad to get rid of her or not, either. She’s no fun, but I’m kind of used to her company. It’ll be weird being the only dog: getting to sleep on the pillow beside Mummy if I feel like it, not having Ciera eat my food before I get a chance at it, not having to wait all the time when we’re out walking, for Ciera to catch up..... I think I might find myself looking around for her and making sure she’s OK. She can’t see very well, either.....

But, right now, we’re all OK. Ciera is already asleep on the pillow, and the crickets are chirping away outside our window. I’M just waiting for Mummy to turn out the lights, and I can settle in beside her.

Talk to you again soon....