Grandma Henke

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   We have smart pets.

Fresca, our Bichon, gets a treat when she comes in from outside … our way of reinforcing outside pottying.     She sure has learned fast.    She now knows if she barks to go outside for a few minutes she gets a treat when she comes in.     Now and then when she’s out she even goes potty.

We’ve been working on “HERE”.    Up ’til now she has been lured and begged using  the very latest training techniques:   “Come on, please, kissing noises, pats on the legs, and get over here!”    She doesn’t come because she is a princess.   She thinks it’s really cool for us to go pick her up and carry her.   Sometimes when you go to pick her up she actually smiles at you coyly before she rolls over on her back in case you want to tickle her tummy first.   She’s learning, though.   She’s actually comes sometimes now when I say “here”  … if she sees me get a treat out of the bottle first.

Funny thing is when we try to leave via the front door she is there in a flash, tail wagging, body wiggling in expectation and cuteness while she tries to make eye contact.  She uses her eyes to communicate and she is pretty good at it.   She is so disappointed when we say “stay” that her shoulders slump and her eyes droop and lose luster as all wiggling and tail wagging comes to a sad halt.    It’s pathetic really but it does what she intends it to do … instills guilt.    The last thing we see as we drive away is her sad little face peering through the window in the TV room.   The first thing we see when we turn into the driveway is her happy little face.

She has a spot on the back of the love seat by the window in the TV Room that has a permanent indent where she lays on it and rests her head on the window sill so she can see when the car comes back down the road.  Boy does she come to life when it does!    It doesn’t matter if it’s me or Lynn she does the same dances and circles between the window and the door until the person comes in.     She is ecstatic and grateful and in love and it shoots out of her like soda pop after a few healthy, strong shakes.  

Thank goodness she isn’t a yapper.    She only barks when it’s absolutely necessary … like in the middle of the night when she sees the silhouette of a bobbing, helium balloon in the dark.  Have you ever heard a dog bark bloody murder?    She’s scared to death of helium balloons … day or night. 

Now FiFi, our feline Queen, would never consider coming to a command even if there was a treat involved.    In fact, if she wanted to come and you said, “here kitty” she would flip you off with her tail and walk out of the room.    She scratches on doors when she wants them opened.   Try to get her to come into the bedroom before we climb into bed and you’re wasting your energy.    The best way to get her in is to turn out the lights, climb in bed, and then get comfortable.     She doesn’t give up.  She has developed a two paw rhythm with her door scratching that can go on for hours.     We used to sleep with the door open so she could come and go when she wants, but we share our house with one of our daughters and her family so we like to shut the door at night.    FiFi also scratches to go out.    She has us trained well.

FiFi also knows when I am into a writing muse and that is when she chooses to come between me and the laptop.   Usually, Fresca is already curled up at my side in the Lazy-boy as I type.   FiFi sits on my lap to make sure I can’t see the computer screen and reaches her paws up to my neck and gives me a soft massage and purrs.    I could push her away but, darn it, you learn to take her loving when you get it even if it is inconvenient.    I’ve decided it’s her way of telling me to settle down and relax.   When she does that I tip the chair back a little and close my eyes and we just sit there together … I scratch her now and then and she massages me now and then.   It is hard to stay up tight when that happens … until I start itching.     

I don’t know.    Pets take an investment of time … and money … but to me they are sure worth it.     It’s a lot cheaper than a psychiatrist and they are always here when I need them … as long as I play by their rules.    I know all I have to do to get them to come is shake the treat can, turn on the computer, watch television, or get comfortable in my bed.