She really likes it under the desk.
She’s a very good dog and one of the only - well, okay, the only – dog that Murray will have anything to do with. And even then he barely has anything to do with her. Every once in a while he’ll go up and smell her and then walk away. He has zero interest in her existence.
It’s interesting to see the difference in these two very similar animals. Murray is about 13 years old and very…delicate. Scout, though no spring chicken at 10 years old, is still very much puppy-minded. While Murray has to really consider if lying down is something he really wants to do since his hips make it very difficult, Scout just plops down anywhere on any surface and then jumps right up when something is of interest. She can still sit like a champ – and does so whenever she wants your attention or a treat. We ruined Murray on this “trick” years ago. And he can’t sit anymore anyway.
She also sits when she has to go to the bathroom. Murray has stopped giving us a heads up (honestly, I don’t think he knows ahead of time anymore) and it means that we have to constantly have one eye on him, watching his tail for the sign he’s about to go into bathroom position. With Scout, she can be doing any activity and suddenly she just stops and sits perfectly still. It’s kind of weird.
Something else I noticed, and caused alarm for me at first until I realized last night that this is perfectly normal dog behavior, is the scratching. She’ll take that back leg and start going to town on the side of her face or behind her ear. As I am deathly fearful of fleas entering my home, this had me very concerned she picked something up – until I remembered – dogs scratch themselves, just like humans have an itch every once in a while. The only difference is, I haven’t been around a dog that can do that in a long time. When Murray’s face itches, he comes up to me and turns the side of his head that itches towards me and then I vigorously rub the side of his face because his legs don’t reach that far anymore. It’s generally kind of gross, but I do it because I love him. Also, it’s either that or he rubs his face all over the furniture.
My baby.
I tend to think Murray is a very strange dog. He is. He’s really strange. But these past couple of days, I can’t get over how strange Scout is, when really, she’s probably exactly the dog that people have in mind when they think to themselves, I want a dog. She’s ridiculously mild-mannered. She adores people and attention. When she gets overwhelmed, she just leaves the room and finds a quiet place to lie down. She leans on you when you pet her. She does this thing where she hands you her paw to hold. You don’t even have to pet her, you just have to hold her paw. She sits and lies down when told. She pulls a bit on the leash, but is an angel with a gentle leader on. She goes to the bathroom when you tell her. She sits for treats without being asked to sit. She’s submissive, so she either stays away from other dogs, or rolls over immediately to let them know she’s not going to try anything crazy. She’s really a great dog.
Really wants me to hold her paw, but just wrapping it around my leg is enough.
We took her to Sea Salt on Saturday. We can’t take Murray places because he’s just anti-social and really just wants to be with us and if other people or dogs come close, he just does not like it. So we brought Scout to Sea Salt, a place we’ve only ever dreamed of bringing Murray. Sea Salt is my favorite restaurant. It’s only open in the spring-summer-fall. They have live music out on the patio, children are dancing and there are dogs everywhere. It’s just a very happy place. And the food and beer is excellent. Scout was perfect. She laid down while we ate, then when we got up to walk around the park, she let all the people approach her and pet her.
It’s been a bit of an adjustment having two dogs in the house. They are both very hairy and we are constantly picking up fur balls and vacuuming. I don’t know how people have more than one child because I constantly feel like I need to be giving them equal amounts of attention. I don’t want Murray to feel like he’s being replaced. And I don’t want Scout to be scared and I want her to feel welcome. It’s exhausting.
Oddly, I was somewhat happy for Monday morning to arrive just so I could get a break from Dog Land for a while.
Although, they are quite cute.
We watch a lot of My So Called Life.
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