Some animals are so smart! In this book you will read 25 funny and exciting true stories about our favourite pets. More!
When my chocolate roan Cocker Spaniel, Emma, joined our family as a puppy, she was dog number three. Her canine companions were her cousin, Cocker spaniel Hayley, aged 6, and Labrador Pixie, aged 9. Pixie was the maternal sort, and acted as ‘mama’ to both Hayley and Emma, cleaning their ears and faces, letting them eat from her bowl, and telling them off when they were naughty. She did not play with them, however, perhaps believing that such an old dog was past such things. Hayley loved to play with her human chums, but considered it beneath her dignity to play with such a cheeky little upstart as her young relative Emma. Consequently, Emma was at a loss for a playmate when her owners were occupied. Nothing daunted, Emma invented her own games. Her favourite toy for ‘alone’ play was not any expensive squeaky contraption, nor yet a tempting rope tug. No, Emma liked nothing better than an empty soft drink bottle. She would roll over on her back, the top of the bottle between her teeth, and grasp the body of the bottle with her paws, for all the world like a human baby with a bottle. Once she had managed to undo the screw cap by dextrous chewing, she had a new game. She got up, cap in mouth, and with a flick of her head sent the cap bouncing across the floor. She was in hot pursuit of course, pouncing on the cap, grabbing it and ‘throwing’ it again. Sometimes we had to join in, as she would accidentally (sometimes I think ‘accidentally on purpose’) send it bouncing under the sofa, where short spaniel paws and fat spaniel noses couldn’t reach. In time, we just gave her the lids from our soft drink bottle as a matter of course, and we discovered that the case holding the toy in a Kinder Surprise was much coveted by Emma as it had more ‘spring’ than a standard cap.
Emma is 8 now, and enjoying her status as an ‘only dog’ for the first time, so there is less need for her to play alone, but she still loves being given a Kinder Surprise case. She’s not entirely devoid of canine company though. Our house is on a back section, surrounded by houses on all sides. We have six foot wooden fencing, with gaps of about an inch between the wooden boards, just enough for Emma to be able to see the neighbours dogs if they are close. The dog on the back section is a grumpy cross breed who barks at every human or animal that comes close. Emma simply ignores this dog, pretending she isn’t there. Likewise, the dogs at the front house pay as much attention to Emma as she does to them, which is none. The dog at the side house, by our washing line, however, is a little Emma-sized brown and white pooch and is Emma’s best doggie friend. The fence on that side is partially blocked, so the gaps between the fences are only open at each end, giving a 4 metre ‘blank patch’ where Emma’s friend isn’t visible. Emma only goes out there when we are not far away, as she doesn’t like going far without us. When she does (usually when the washing is being hung out to dry), she stands at one of the open ends and barks for her friend to come and play. When he hears her, he comes running and the game begins. They see each other through the fence, and bark once. Then they both charge down to the other open end, wait for the other to get there, bark again and race back the way they have come, bark, and so the game goes on! It usually ends when we’ve finished hanging out the washing and Emma reluctantly leaves her friend to come with us. We sometimes hear Emma’s friend calling for her to come and play, but she won’t go unless we are near, so occasionally we indulge her and go and wait for her to have a quick game of ‘chase and bark’!
Emma recently thought her friend had moved house. You see, our front neighbours had acquired a pet goat kid, about Emma’s size, and brown and white, much like Emma’s friend. Emma saw it through the fence and barked her ‘come and play bark’ at it, then set off at a run down the fenceline! She was most perturbed when, not only did her supposed friend not join the game, he was positively scared and ran off! It took a few experiences like this for Emma to realise that her friend had not moved, and what she had taken for him at the front house was, in fact, a completely different species!
Author: Caroline Bailey
No country specified.
True story: Yes
Rating:
26 paws up
Vote:
Vote up
Vote down
Previous story: Not so Sneaky | Back to story list | Next story: A heroic dog