The Dreams of Dogs
my dog friend sleeps on my lap
my dog friend sleeps by my side at night
sometimes he dreams
then he whines and whimpers
what does he dream about?
what is he pursuing or is it chasing him, why does he cry
when he huffs and puffs what are his worries
with tiny woofs he wakes me
I reach out and stroke his furrowed forehead
and, sometimes I feel the tension leave his body
but, sometimes I have to gently wake him from…
I’m not sure I want to know what chases him
maybe then I would cry at night too
The story of Karl and his Human picks up a few months after they became buddies…
a running dog (Image by Krazy Uncle)
We’ve settled into a routine, and each and every day I’m thankful I have Karl in my life. He is so smart and gentle, and he only wants to please me and I try to do the same for him.
I bought a book on dog obedience that was recommended to me, and I’ve been reading it daily. There was a passage about the importance of speaking with a confident voice, it helped clarify some issues I wasn’t sure about, and Karl seems to respond better when I seem to know what I’m doing. Another thing I learned in the book that helps, is it used to bother me to have a pet watch me in the kitchen. I thought they were only there for the possibility of free food, also I’m not real good at having someone watch my every move. Now, I realize he’s just entertained by watching me, and it doesn’t bother me so much now. But, when I sit down to eat, I still don’t want an audience for every bite, so I just point to the bedroom and tell him to go there, and like a little gentleman he does as I ask without fuss, oh he does hang his head and gives me the brown eyed puppy look, but I’m mostly immune to that… yeah, right. It actually surprises me how easy going he is.
Karl is also getting better at staying at the door when I open it to go outside, most of the time, I’m a soft touch and can’t get too excited when he rushes through the door first – but, it’s something I better get control of soon though, as I don’t want him biting the Mailman when we move back to civilization.
Last week I took Karl to the Vet for his vaccinations. When we got there the front office was closed for remodeling and the temporary office was in the horse receiving area. We signed in and once the technician arrived I handed Karl off to her and asked if I could come along, “Sure, no problem!”
Because, we came in the side door, the three of us walked through the central area of the backroom. There were about five or six Doctors and technicians going about their work day duties. Every one of the staff knew Karl by name and said hello to him as well as some pleasant fawning. The technician that gave Karl his haircut was there and I thanked her again for the great job she did shaving him. I knew she wasn’t too sure how well it would look, because she cut his hair more as a necessity than as a function of grooming. She was very pleased at how Karl was looking with a little growth to his hair.
Later when we got home, I was sitting on the front porch with Karl and I noticed one of the guys from the ranch pulling up in his work truck to unload his ATV so he could spray the weeds in the old corral. I grabbed Karl’s leash and took him out to meet my friend. Karl decided it was a good time to defend his territory. Bark, bark – bark – bark… and so on. I tried to get him to calm down, but he wasn’t having any of it. So, my friend and I just kept talking and ignoring Karl and Karl eventually stopped barking. But, when my friend turned to go back to what he was doing Karl lit up again with the barking. I ended my conversation with my friend and took Karl back to the house, no one worse for the wear. I think Karl is mostly just defending our territory.
Karl and the Bumble Bee
I’ve got some trees in my yard that have little white flowers on them. The bumble bees are working those trees over pretty heavily. At times it sounds like the whole tree is buzzing. Twice now I’ve found big bumble bees on the floor of my house, they are about the size of a quarter. I don’t know how they get in the house and they seem about done in when I find them, dozy they are. I scoop them up and put them outside, and one time I used a broom to sweep one out to the front porch. Karl sees this huge bumble bee and is immediately interested, “No, buddy leave him alone!” and, I sweep our visitor into the yard. Of course Karl sees exactly where the bee lands and starts sniffing around, I’m trying to get him to come to me, and suddenly Karl is jumping back, shaking his head, snuffling and tearing up the grass with his hind legs. But, he’s still going back and sniffing around the bee, but with a growl. I finally drew his attention away from the bee and got a good look at his nose, he seemed okay then and now. May be a valuable lesson was learned about bumble bees by little buddy? Oh, and no Karls were hurt in this incident.
Yesterday, I just started to take Karl for his walk and we were walking the road in the field, when my landlord pulled up behind us on an ATV, he was checking the fields, seeing how the peas and wheat were doing. We got to talking and Karl was barking most of the time. I was able to get him to stop when I dropped down beside him and stroked his head, gently talking to him, so that was a bit of an improvement. I told my landlord I’d be putting up some fencing across the end of the garage that is open to the yard, I want to do this to keep Karl there during the harvest operations as my landlord parks fuel trucks and various equipment in my yard. I don’t need Karl going after the crew and possibly biting someone or being injured himself. My landlord was good with that.
After our talk my boss/landlord took off on the ATV up the road Karl and I walk and of course Karl wanted to lay chase to my boss, but the leash nixed his plan. I ended up cutting our walk short, because I didn’t feel I could let Karl off his leash. So, we just played in the yard when we got home. Karl’s a funny guy. But, I love him and he loves me…
Until next time… see ya around…
The Backside of a Sunset... and Karl (image by Krazy Uncle)
