A Dogs Life

Dog owners often brag about the strict way they train their dogs. I’m one of those owners and I’m indeed very strict. I use strong commands like Sit-Stay- lay down-stop barking. My dog is “Angel”, her name, not her nature. My daughter Caroline and granddaughter Melissa found her as a puppy in Elmsdale NS. She was such a cute puppy Melissa named her Angel. She is ten years old now and the training is complete, Angel does exactly as I have taught her. Hmm, let me re-think that statement, I do everything Angel has taught me! When she wants something she stands at my chair and eyeballs me until I react. She is telling me one of three things. She wants out or up on my lap or she wants to go to bed. At approximately 3 pm each afternoon she does little whirling circles in front of me plus a few clever dance steps. This means its time to go for our walk. She has a bed downstairs and one upstairs. At night we have a routine, Angel first points out to me,its bed time, then goes up stairs to wait for me. I come up bringing her an evening treat, I lay out her blanket in a particular way, if I do it wrong she will not get on the bed. After a couple of circles she lands and I cover her with the rest of the blanket. You might think that is it until morning. Wrong, during the night if the blanket slips off her, she stands up and flaps her ears or paws my side of the bed until I sit up. She then lays down and I re-cover her with the blanket. Angel sees me as a dog whisperer, she gets upset if I shout. She has also been trained to be very handy around the kitchen. If Linda happens to leave a cake on the counter to cool while we go shopping, angel takes care of it. When we return the cake is gone, teaching us that is not healthy to leave food out uncovered. She ate the cake to protect us from possible food poisoning, listeria or such. I worry about ever having to replace this amazingly well trained dog, could I ever find another so smart?