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Professor McLovin never ceases to amaze. This time it's his wonderful nose and his acute sense of smell that drives me to comment.
We just returned from a short trip to Vancouver, a destination that we visit regularly to see friends and family, both human and canine. The trip lasts around three hours and invariably involves a couple of stops: the border line-up, getting gas, etc. Oscar spends most of the car ride either lying down or pushing his head through the bars trying to get a whiff of fresh air to cool him down a bit. But he always seems to know when we're approaching the destination because as soon as we turn on to my parents' block he starts whining and getting agitated. This wouldn't be so surprising if my parents lived close to the freeway but we have to drive on city streets for twenty minutes to get to their house so it's not that the motion in the car has changed.
My theory is that every block smells a little different from its neighbor and that it takes a nose that is twice the size of your brain to distinguish among the various subtle aromas that permeate a particular spot on earth. It's not surprising that Oscar shows excitement when about to see his "Uncle Punky" but what amazes me is his ability to anticipate the event simply by making sense of the world based on what he senses in his immediate surroundings.
There are two types of long weekends: those which are consumed with commitments and those which are relatively free. Neither type is inherently superior but sometimes it's nicer to have one type rather than the other at a particular time.
This last Memorial Day weekend was one for which we didn't have much going on. Thankfully the weather cooperated so we enjoyed three full days of staying mostly at home, gardening, reading, and hanging out in our backyard. Which meant that the Professor had constant company for three straight days and wasn't willing or able to take as many naps as he's accustomed to.
It was amusing for us to observe the effect that a lack of shut-eye had on his behavior: he was amazingly calm in the mornings and didn't clamor to go out right away; he didn't feel the need to bark at every passing dog or person; and he kept looking at us with dopey eyes that were struggling to stay open, questioning if this madness would ever end.
Therefore, sleep is important, even to professors with a seemingly unending supply of energy. Apparently we all have to charge our batteries to be able to operate at high speed.
A dog's life often necessitates being left alone in the house. Who knows what they do with all that free time but I think it's likely they spend most of their days sleeping and waiting patiently for their owners to return.
When one of us comes or goes from the house Professor McLovin likes to prop himself up on our windowsill that overlooks the street to watch his people come and go. Perhaps it makes him feel like the absence will be just a little bit shorter this way. Our window provides him with an uncontested view of the street that allows him to see what's going on in front of his house. But it also underscores today's lesson and emphasizes how the Professor considers it one's duty to look out for those who are important to you.
Oscar has one particularly endearing habit: he howls at sirens. Whenever an ambulance or fire truck drives by within hearing range, his ears perk up for a second then he tilts his head back and lets loose a series of unearthly howls that can last up to half a minute. We've tried to get him to howl on command but have been entirely unsuccessful as he will take his cue from one source only.Now it's unclear why exactly he behaves this way but one possible explanation is that he is demonstrating unequivocal support for his friends. Even friends that come in the bright-red-metallic-can-put-out-fires variety. If you hear someone giving a cry for help then one natural reaction would be to let them know where you are if they need to find you and also stress that you feel similarly and have their back.
But all in all this is one of the Professor's lessons for which I don't really care if there's a method to his madness: just hearing him deliver his notes brings a smile to my face every time.
Oscar's leash manners are less than exemplary. Like many dogs he loves to pull and pull. He's pretty much intolerable to take on walks unless he's in his harness and even then he can be difficult to manage. We've been trying to improve his leash behavior for some time to mixed success: if he's pulling on his lead then we try and make him stop by standing still. Of course this makes the walk progress much more slowly but we think our efforts are starting to bear fruit and that Oscar realizes he can't just decide where he wants to go while on leash.
Not to be discouraged, the Professor has recently developed an alternate solution which he employs on occasion. He likes to keep in constant motion so when he feels a tug from behind instead of just stopping and waiting he will run behind his walker in order to relieve the tension in the leash. When he is especially excited (such as when we're on our way to the park for our morning walk) Prof. McLovin basically ends up running around his walker in circles, turning the leash into a confused mess of twists and knots. But because he's not pulling we don't have to stop and wait which means we get to our destination faster as a result of his ridiculous constant motion.
Professor McLovin never ceases to amaze. This time it's his wonderful nose and his acute sense of smell that drives me to comment.
