April 28, 2011

White Dog jumped down and pawed her sister, Nuka, a high five. "Wow! That was some acting job!" she complimented, "you almost had me convinced!" Puff stood next to the beaming AWD and nuzzled her side, "You really had Michael going!"

Quinn came out and reminded the girls that humor based on scaring someone was not very nice. He agreed that Another White Dog had been pretty resourceful at getting out of a task she did not want to do.

One of Michael's afternoon "chores" is that he must walk around the block twice everyday. His doctor felt this would help with his circulation issues and that it would also help develop independence. He is allowed to take either TOWD or AWD with him for company if they choose to go. Michael really does not like to walk alone and many afternoons I can hear him trying desperately to talk one or the other into joining him. Quinn has developed a sixth sense about when it is 4pm and he heads out the dog door into the yard to avoid being chosen as that walk time approaches. Nuka usually sighs and reluctantly goes along (once she is outside and heading down the drive she is fine, it is just leveraging her out of the house that Michael has problems with).

Today, as usual, Michael led her by her leash out of the office toward the front door. She had grumbled up a storm. They turned the corner, entered the living room and AWD fell over in a heap on her side. Plop! Nuka down! Mayday! There she lay, totally unmoving and unresponsive to pets, tickles, calls, attempts to bribe her. "Oh no, I think I killed her," Michael starting getting upset. "Call the vet right away!" Still AWD lay unmoving.

"Calm down," I said as I lifted Nuka into my lap and held her like a baby. Her head dangled over my arm and she did not even flinch. "Let's take the leash off and I will check her over before we panic. Go for your walk and we will call Dr. Julia when you get back if we need to." I felt her breathing normally and her pulse was fine. Another White Dog held her position as I pushed and prodded and finally with a fearful look over his shoulder, Michael walked outside.

Nuka waited a few more seconds after he left then started twisting and squirming. There was nothing wrong. She hopped down out of my arms and went into the kitchen for a mouthful of kibble and a drink of water. Then she came back and curled up at my feet.

Our little actress had totally scammed Michael (even I was starting to get a little concerned). She didn't want to go for a walk and this time she wasn't going to let him talk her into it! So she pulled a little "Go on, don't worry about me...save yourself trick" and performed dead dog as convincingly as White Dog has been trained to do (although Nuka didn't bark "last words" as WD does). It was an award winning performance.

When he came back, Michael was amazed at her "recovery." When I explained that he had been conned, he shook his head at Nuka and told her that her joke was mean...but later as he recounted it to Steve, even he could see the humor in the drama.