johargis
01-05-2001, 10:12 PM
This is a story about one of my most beloved doxies, Blarney. When Blarney came to live with us as a puppy she was 12 weeks old. She was a little red streak of smooth doxie who ran through the back yard airborne most of the time. The first thing Schnitzel did when he met her was to bite her on the head. Grouchy old Schnitzel was a red smooth boy we adopted then had treated for heartworms he had acquired living with a previous irresponsible owner. He clearly did not want to have anything to do with Blarney. So she made friends with our Siamese cat Smokee. Smokee was a tomcat and did not mix with the doxies at least not until Blarney came on the scene. She HAD to have someone to play with so she approached Smokee by scooting up to him on her belly then turned over under his head so she could touch his chin with her paws. He grew to love his interactions with the little red puppy. They walked along side of one another. He would scoop pieces of his cat food from his bowl on the counter to the floor to watch her eat it. Must have been for his entertainment. I eventually taught Blarney to play Hide and Go Seek. We would be in the den and I would say, “Blarney! Wanna play BOOOO?” Her ears would perk up and she waited while I went down the hall in the bedroom wing of the L shaped ranch style house to find a spot behind the door of one of the rooms, hide in the tub or behind the bed and caller to her. “Blarney…oh Blarney come find momma”. Then she would start gingerly down the hall and check behind every door, etc. looking for me. As soon as she got close, I would jump out and go BOOOO. She turned around and ran to the den only to repeat it again. She had great fun with this game and we played it often. Her best friend Smokee and she would lie in spots of sun by the sliding glass doors and lick each other on the head and neck."love" They slept together on the bench in front of the fireplace in the winter weeks (we usually has 2 weeks of winter each year on the Gulf Coast). Before each meal Blarney would get so excited she would chew on Smokee’s head and ears until they were sopping wet. It would only take her a minute or so to make him completely wet. This happened EVERY day. We never could figure out what was going on with routine but once again it demonstrated how they were enmeshed in a relationship. Then one evening while we were watching TV in the den, Smokee sauntered from the den through the door to the entry and onto the living room. Blarney got up off the couch and went and sat behind a potted plant by the door he had just exited. In a few minutes, Smokee sauntered back into the den. When he did, Blarney jumped at him from behind the potted plant and crouched on her front legs as she lunged at Smokee and for all intents and purposed baked her version of BOOOO. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/dog.gifhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/jacks.gif The cat sprang straight up in the air like an armadillo. When he landed he looked at her and shook his head back and forth. It was so clear he was saying, http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/eek.gif“JEEEEZE don’t scare me like that!” All the while she was jumping up and down with a big smile on her face. From this point on I never doubted that animals could reason. This was a deliberate plot she executed. She was a smart dog. Oh, I taught this dog how to smile too. I did it by holding her and looking at her and saying, “Blarney? Give me a smile” and then I’d grin at her. It didn’t take more than three times and she learned to open her lips and show her pearly white teeth in a big grin.http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif: It was so funny I would laugh back and tickle her. She did it whenever I’d ask for it. She’d give me that great big smile. And she learned to use it too. She was not without her faults. Liked to get into the garbage and all those other things doxies like to do. But with Blarney it was different. We never got upset with her about anything she did for long. Why? You ask? As soon as we would admonish her, she would flash that toothy grin at us and act all embarrassed. That dog learned how to use a smile to allay scolding! What a smart dog she was. One last thing we noticed about her. She liked to sit on the couch next to me with her head on my upper leg so she could watch everything I did with my hands. See, she noticed people have hands and that they use them for manipulation. I was always crafting, sewing, painting, reading or writing with them and she watched every movement. My husband was the first to notice her doing this. I just knew she spent the time she was not with her cat on my lap. It was amazing to watch her observe hands. I debated whether to not to post this in the memorial section or here. I think it is best posted here. Although Blarney and Smokee both died in 1990, they live on in our mind, heart and souls to this day. These are antics truly deserving of cyber immortalization. Even though I have six beautiful and beloved doxies today, those two were very special because of their odd love for each other. None of the others have approached the antics Blarney perpetrated. None of them has ever befriended any of the cats like she did. I truly thank God for them. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/angel.gifhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/angel.gif