Some people have routines. I have struggles. I have tried to make a list, set my alarm,
book an appointment on my iPhone which will sync to my iPad, which will ding
with a reminder that I am suppose to do something. But it also has a close button that pops up.
So I touch that sweet little button, and shut down that racket. It is a lot
cheaper than throwing the damn thing against the wall like an old wind up
clock. So I touch the close button and close my mind to whatever I scheduled
myself to do. And I am sure that at the
time I set that appointment it was a good idea.
But when the ding goes off, well it’s like Pavlov’s dog. I react
instinctively and I aim for the close button.
“I donwanna”, I whine to myself.
Poof, the appointment vanishes, another spectacular job by my own
personal, stealthy Genie. But then my dogs trot into the room and they do that
thing with their heads. I call it the Lab Tilt.
Dogs don’t care about iPhones or iPads or whatever excuse
you come up with. My dogs practice the Lab Tilt in front of the mirror in our
work out room. They especially appreciate it if I leave one of the nice, cushy
foam pads on the floor so they can sit in comfort in front of the mirror. The
four year old, Jade is definitely in charge, as long as the three year old,
Prana allows it.
Jade is lean, medium sized, sixty pounds with a two tone
paint job of thick, luscious black and tan fur. If she were a car she would be a black Jaguar,
old school with subtle wheat colored fenders that follow the lines of the sexy
hood all the way back to the taillights. Shimmering black dominates, but those wheat
highlights accentuate the curves. When
she shifts into fourth gear, well she hauls ass and is a thing of beauty to
watch streak by. She is spectacular.
But her true power is in her face. Her long hound nose has a wide swipe of black
all the way up between her eyes and covers her head and ears. Then it sweeps under each eye like two inch
wide eye liner. Her face is like war paint, a finger dipped into glossy black
paint with a swipe along the bridge of her nose and then two quick wide swipes
under each eye. The sides of her muzzle
are summer wheat, curving under the eyeliner back to the back of her jaw with a
little zig zag and then plunges down her throat. There is a cape of black around her chest that
follows around her back and sides all the way to the tip of her bushy tail. Her
chest and the front of her legs are covered in summer wheat all the way down to
her paws. Two tan smudge spots hover above her eyes like Andy Roony’s bushy
eyebrows. And she can work those eyebrows. She practices that in front of the
mirror too.
Prana may be smaller at forty pounds, but she is all muscle. When she trots by, her muscles ripple under short,
almond fur. After she launched straight
up about five feet in the air to get a
Frisbee, well we nicknamed her Mary Lou Retton. She trots like a gymnast, all bulging thighs
and swagger. In another life she could be an Olympic gymnast trotting toward
and quadruple spin o sault as she propels herself across the floor. She is all
power and grace. Her face shows caution
with golden eyes and a short white band around her muzzle. Her throat is white,
flows down her chest and underneath to her belly. All four toes are dipped in
white and the tip of her curved tail sports a bit of white too.
These dogs are all about their face and ears. Dogs and their
ears, well it’s a complex thing. For one thing they can be looking at you all
intent and then independently swivel their ears to hear something behind them
or off to their sides. I know cats can do that too, but cats don’t care what
you think. Dogs care. They know they
have to look like they are paying attention to you, but their focus is
interrupted now. Suddenly you realize your kid is looking at you and texting
under the table. I mean it is one thing for me to be multi tasking, but I
really don’t want my dogs to get good at that too. But really it is that Lab Tilt that gets me.
The quizzical look, sincere, head tilted, eyebrows up a little and maybe open
mouthed just a bit. Like every fiber is tuned to what you are saying or going
to say. Now besides practicing the Lab Tilt, my dogs also listen to ESL tapes
when we are away. They figured out the tape recorder and how to push the
correct buttons and keep the volume down as to not arouse suspicion. I mean how
else have they learned how to spell W_A_L_K?
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