They say you can鈥檛 teach an old dog new tricks.
But maybe they can adapt old tricks.
I got a phone call from Donna while I was out today. She sounded distraught. She was worried about Sam鈥檚 behaviour.
Now, technically, Sam is not a dog. He鈥檚 a poodle. When people stop to admire him 鈥� and they did that a lot when he was in his prime 鈥� he immediately adopts his show-ring pose.
I should interject here that his 鈥渟how stance鈥� 鈥� perfect conformation, standing proud with his front legs directly under his shoulders and hind legs slightly back, and his head high and strong as if gazing intently at a point just beyond the horizon 鈥� is entirely innate behaviour. We鈥檝e never had him anywhere near a show ring.
The pose often elicits an admiring gasp, and something like, 鈥淚s he pure poodle?鈥�
鈥淵es,鈥� we鈥檒l say, 鈥淗e is.鈥�
And then, when Sam hears the usual rejoinder, 鈥淲hat a beautiful dog!鈥� he breaks his stance to look around for the dog. Because he likes dogs.
Today, Donna grew concerned over a strange behaviour that she had not witnessed in Sam before. He just stood staring at the wall. Not any particular wall. Whatever wall happened to be in front of him.
She moved him to a different room, so he stared at a different wall.
She forced him to sit鈥� so he sat staring at a wall.
She got him to lay down鈥� so he lay staring at a wall.
She practically had to force him to accept a piece of cheese鈥� and when he did, he did so distantly, apparently disinterested.
She tried to get him to play ball outside鈥� and without a wall to stare at, he just stared.
So Donna called me. Did I think that maybe Sam 鈥� a rather big dog (or poodle, that is) who celebrated his 10th birthday this week 鈥� had had a stroke?
No. Sam was just missing me.
Sam really is Donna鈥檚 dog. And what she has never seen is how he behaves when she鈥檚 not home. He sits and stares at the door. All day.
I can get him to stand鈥� and he stands and stares at the door. All day.
It does give me pause for thought today that he doesn鈥檛 seem to understand that I don鈥檛 walk through walls.
