Stories About My Dogs

 

Dogs Don’t Lie  11/6/06 by Chapin Burgess

 

Last night was the full moon.  Over the last few days I have heard many moon songs all night long (every 40 minutes) to the moon as it got fuller but at 2 am came this welcoming song that woke me up and warranted investigation since the dogs are my alarm when someone is here.  I walked all around the yard but saw and heard nothing.  Not and animal or otherwise.  I thought to myself the dogs are lying and went back to bed. Upon checking on the doggies this morning I found that unlike humans, doggies don't lie.  As near as I can tell there are 5 puppies.  Momma won't let me move her to count them.  I was growled at and I know to leave her alone.  I will move them in the house tonight.  So last nights arrival of the pups was welcomed with a welcoming howl by ALL the dogs.  This was truth.

Living with so many dogs that talk (woo woo) and howl I have learned to understand their talking and howling it is incredible.  I can never say that Huskies are a dumb dog.  They have a very clear form of communication and it can be understood by anyone willing to listen.  Native Americans believe that the wolf is a teacher and one has but to listen in order to learn.  I have a yard full of teachers (Huskies are closely related to and behave like wolves).  They play jokes and pranks but they don't lie in what they say.  They always speak straight truth.  What a privilege I have of living with such wise, intelligent, truthful communicative animals.  Friends have been over visiting when the dogs would start "talking" and I would ask them to listen for a minute.  The dogs would tell me that one of the dogs was loose.  As I listened more the dogs would tell me exactly who was loose and where the dog was in the yard.  My friend would tell me "yeah, right.  I want to see this".  When my friend and I came out of the house sure enough that exact dog came running by us in the yard.  Dogs don't lie!  Wonder why I like living with dogs more than people?

 

I sort of expected yesterday that Sakari was close to delivery.  So I threw down several flakes of hay for her.  She had already dug a hole for a "den" and she immediately took the hay and ripped it apart and lined her den.  So this morning all I did was cover them with a blanket.  Tonight when I came home I prepared a nice soft warm bed for her and the pups in the house and brought them in.  I had no problems with her growling at me tonight.

 

Speaking of jokes and pranks yesterday I went into the big kennel to trim the hair on the dog’s pads and before I could get started one of the dogs had taken the scissors and walked off with them.  They play this game of hide and seek and find it very amusing.  Fayth finally found the scissors and we trimmed the hair.  One of the other dogs loves for me to come in and clean the water bowl.  This means that when I dump the dirty water out after scrubbing the bowl that he will have a chance to grab the brush and run.  He loves to play chase with me over the brush so I know to act like I’m not watching him “steal” the brush.  I come prepared though.  After I get tired of playing chase I break out the bag of treats that I was wise enough to conceal in my pocket.  The brush becomes mine in exchange for the treats.