1. She's a picky eater. Really. 100% of the time when I put her food out she looks at it, sniffs it, and then looks at me like "There must be some mistake, this is dog food!" She may deign to eat some of later, but never when I first give it to her. I've tried hot, cold, wet, dry, even singing to her ("Be our guest" from Beauty and the Beast, what else would you sing to your dog over dinner? Maybe I should sing "Bella Notte" from Lady and the Tramp next time.) She will eat if we sit and feed her one piece at a time. If we drop something tasty, she will examine it closely before she decides if it is worth eating. Parmesan cheese was a yes, peas were a no. Not typical dog behavior.
2. She sleeps all day. Dharma's schedule: She gets up at 5 with Derek, goes out to the couch and falls asleep with him.
Derek carries her back to her bed at 6:30. Gets up with Emilie at 9, staggers outside only if Emilie insists. Then falls asleep on the couch.
May wake up for a game of fetch and to glare at her unappealing food. Then she sleeps in the sunbeam. At 2 or so she joins Emilie for a nap. 5:30, Derek comes home and she goes bonkers greeting him (I didn't say she was ALL cat.) Takes a walk,
makes a mess in the backyard, then takes a nap. Snoozes all evening on the couch while Derek and Emilie read, crochet, watch television, or play video games (I bet you can guess which one of us is doing the crocheting and which one is playing the video games!) Cuddles Emilie in bed until 11 or so, then goes to her own little bed (which has an adorable Hello Kitty mattress and blanket.)
3. She loves yarn. It is fun to chase it and chew on the ends, but it is even more fun to unroll a nice big ball all over the house. It is also fun to unravel Emilie's work. There is also some evidence that she has been swallowing bits of yarn. Does yarn taste better than dog food? Maybe its not abnormal for a dog to play with yarn. Check out the long (three and a half minutes) but cute clip from The Ugly Dachshund. Three naughty little doxies have way too much fun making a mess with yarn. (I apologize for the poor quality of the images, I think somebody made this by pointing a camcorder at the television.)
4. She worships the sun! Yes, if the sun is out, she is in it. Preferably sleeping in the sunbeam on the carpet. If it isn't out, she complains. If Derek's shoes are in the way, she will push them out of the way so she can loll in the warm sun. She even brings her little toys with her for gnawing convenience. (see the April 29th post below for a not-very-tasteful photo.)
5. She won't fetch. She KNOWS how to fetch, she just doesn't do it. She is very good at "go get it." Sometimes she'll even bring it back, but she won't give the ball or the stick back to me. She will even come really close and then run off with it. Heh, heh, heh. This is why one of her nicknames is "Booger dog."
6. She washes herself. She licks her paws and then wipes her face. She will lick her front paws for a full ten minutes. (Is this the doggie version of biting one's nails? Or of obsessive hand washing?) Of course, this means she considers actual soap and water baths to be totally unnecessary.
7. She doesn't like to get dirty. She won't dig in the dirt. This is nice, but then she comes inside to dig in the carpet. She actually tried to bury a little treat in the carpet. When that failed, she hid it under a pillow. Under the couch is also a good hiding place. Obviously, we need deeper, plusher carpet.
8. Her favorite website is Cute Overload, which is mostly pictures of cats. She also loves to watch Youtube (see our favorite video here). If the computer is making noise, she wants to see why. She will watch endless videos. I think all see really sees is the motion. She really likes the ads with people dancing about their low mortage rates (as seen on The Weather Channel.) Puppy videos are nice, but cat videos make her bark and try to climb into the screen. Here she is watching a video of herself.
9. She has that all-important cat trait: attitude. When I made her go outside in the rain, she was so mad at me that she wouldn't cuddle me or even accept a treat. She even engaged in non-violent political protest. Derek had put her back into her pen when he left for work, and I was asleep in bed. Dharma thought she should not be wrongfully imprisoned, especially when she could be in the nice, big, warm bed with me. She barked, she whined, she tried to jump out. Then she took her empty metal food dish in her mouth, picked it up, and started banging it against the metal bars. Just like the prisoners in every prison movie in the world (Favorite: The Green Mile.) I can't decide if I should call the ASCPA or the ACLU. Poor puppy!
10. She is too smart for her own good. Just one example: I was happily crocheting and watching an A&E Biography when she started acting like she needed to visit the doggie bathroom (also known as the backyard.) She circled, she sniffed, she paced. So I got up and found my shoes and the leash. Where was she? Oh, she was in my chair, enjoying the warm spot and the yarn I had left behind. She totally faked me out! It is bad when the dog is smarter than the human. Of course, if the human is blonde and the dog is brunette, it's really not a fair contest.
Does anybody remember the cartoon Catdog? Maybe one end is a cat, one end is a dog?
