Adventures with Doggle: Month Two

He doesn’t bark, except twice at mailmen, and one muted w–oof! at PiC the other night when he was sooo excited about … I think … getting mocked about being excited?  That last was the first time I’d ever heard him bark.  Excitement for all!

He hangs out with us all the time, quietly, and mostly in a silly half-needy, half-but-it’s-ok-if-you-ignore-me kind of way.  Underfoot as close as you can get, but mutually ignoring.

He loves to follow an inch behind you when you’re trying to Swiffer; double points if he manages to predict the direction you were going to turn and gets in the way.  He’s really good at this game.

We discovered there are actually two treats he really enjoys, out of all the treats that we’ve offered, so much so that he’s now showing emotion beyond the staid ear perks and ear-downing of happy.  He also gets very very conflicted when offered the choice between a walk and the treat.

Unfortunately, he’s not just camera-shy, he’s kind of camera-angry.  Camera-resentful? Takes after his mom that way. If he sees the camera come out, he walks away from you with an eye pip cocked. How dare you? his gait says.   He hears a click that might be a camera? Head snaps up, eyes gleam with a balefulness that makes you apologize before you’ve even hidden the evidence.  Because you want to hide the evidence.But at the same time, he’s the gentlest, most tolerant soul I’ve seen for an older dog with a hidden past.Children of all ages and sizes don’t faze him, car rides of any length don’t either, any multiplicity of other dogs make him cheerful.  Strangers will use him as a training tool for their puppies.  Seriously.  We’ll be eating outdoors somewhere, and someone will use the fact that he’s completely calm and unmoved to train their yapping, flippy-outty, over-excited baby dogs to “calm,” “sit,” “it’s ok,” right in front of him.

You know he doesn’t actually necessarily love it when I bear-hug him, but he lets me anyway.  (He would prefer it if I’d stop, probably.  Not gonna happen.)  He’s definitely got some Happy Place in his head and he’s a perma-resident.

After regaling my oldest friends with stories of his depression during our weekend without PiC, his clear designation of PiC as the alpha or his favorite, doesn’t like my walks so will go to PiC if I hold the leash, one of them asked: How does it feel to be rejected by your own dog?  *snicker*

Better ask PiC how it feels to be Doggle’s BESTEST FRIEND EVAR.  He didn’t think there was a possibility that the Doggle would choose him!

He’s a love, though, and comes to me for quiet company.

Word to the wise:  The dental chews from Costco reek to high heaven.  But Doggle, who again, barely showed registered emotion on a normal scale for the past year and then some about anything was ecstatic about them.  He’s even now voluntarily sitting at random times, possibly hoping for a treat. Or a walk. We can’t tell, but it’s pretty funny.  There’s hope this old dog is learning us new tricks yet.  😉

Ed Note: I forgot to mention, you know how I know he likes me?  Even if PiC is his favorite? He lets me alligator face him. 🙂  You know. Put my hands under his chin and push up so he has the fattest-looking alligatorey, beestung face ever. He just squidges his eyes shut and goes with it. Love. This. Guy!