Last Updated on: 24th May 2023, 02:00 pm
I seem to be pretty low on things to blog today, but since Trixie always provides me with stuff worth mentioning, here are some more things that I thought were cool enough to post.
One time, I had a nightmare. I can’t even remember what it was about. But I guess I made a noise as I woke up. Trixie was disturbed by this noise, and decided that she had to pull a Lassie. She walked out to where Steve was waking up, and started snorting at him to get his attention. Then, she pointed herself down the hall. So, he followed her, wondering what was up, and she led him to me. I told him what happened. I can just hear the show. “What’s that, Lassie? There’s trouble at the old mill?”
Another time, I think I actually saw Trixie having a doggy nightmare. She was sleep woofing, let out a big one, and then came running to me. Poor thing.
I don’t think Trixie realizes that dogs bark in their sleep, it’s normal, or that she herself does it. When Barb was here with Rosamae, Rosamae started barking in her sleep. Trixie did not like this at all. She got up, ran towards her and barked at her. Silly thing. I think it startled her. I’ve got news for ya, Trixter, you do it all the time.
It’s funny. For a long time, I’ve been calling Trixie “Trix”. Apparently, there was another guide dog whose actual name was Trix. Woops! Now she’s retired, but apparently I was calling my dog the same name as a german shepherd.
Trixie does one thing that gets the same consistent response from everyone who sees it. They all go “I’ve never seen a dog do that before!” What does she do? She stretches out on her belly, but she puts her hind legs straight out behind her, as straight as possible. She looks really weird. I wish I had a picture of that to put up.
She also runs out to a carpet or something and slams down so hard that she makes a horrible thump skid noise.
Remember the other day when I said she responds to ancy pants? Well, she also perks up when I say “genius.” I was staffing a booth a while ago, and I was talking about her amazing memory, and I said she was a genius. Just then, she perked up and looked around as if to say, “You rang?”
Does anyone else have a dog who gives you a kiss and also a zap? I don’t know exactly why, but nine times out of ten, when Trixie is playing around and gives me a lick, I also get a zap! What’s with that? I don’t even know if she zaps Steve when she licks him. Maybe I’m the weird one.
Trixie did something way cool the other day that just solidified that she knows the difference between on and off harness. On our dog day anniversary, I thought it would be fun to take her on a big flexi. Well, nature had other plans. It was a nice sunny day, but the ground where we usually flexi was in horrible shape. There were lumps and bumps, glare ice and soft snow, and occasionally, bits of grass. I quickly learned that it was not safe to be on the end of a flexi being pulled unpredictably by a dog just trying to have fun. She seemed to find the ice really fun, and was trying to skate across it while I slid unsteadily behind her. If I could have let her free to skate, I would have, but since we don’t have a fensed yard, it was flexi or nothing. I stopped her long enough to put my ice grippers back on, but that wasn’t cutting it. At one point, I heard Craig’s voice in my head. He was one of the retrains who was there when I was getting Trixie. The voice said “I’m here because my dog that I just got in October was running on some ice on the flexi, slipped and fell, blew out her knee and had to be retired.” Those words reverberated a couple of times, and I decided to bring the fun to an end for both our sakes.
I put the harness back on and said find inside. Trixie stood there thinking for a minute, and then started walking. If we’re in an open area and it feels like she is walking in a purposeful direction, I just trust her to find the way home. She usually does. If she doesn’t, she finds something else I can use to navigate. She started walking, stopping, walking, stopping, and then she took this twisty, turny route…completely avoiding the big ice patch. You go, Trixie, you go! Then, we got to a place to step down, but she did not approve of it, not one bit. I checked, and I couldn’t blame her. It was a steep slope of ice and snow! She edged me over to a safer place, got us down, and couldn’t have been more thrilled with her work. I was thrilled too, and bent down and gave her a hug. I thought it was neat that that happened on our dog day anniversary. It was really special.
I don’t know why I haven’t mentioned this, but Trixie has a serious love affair with Steve’s little brother. I remember the first time she saw him, it was when we came for his birthday. As soon as I took the harness off, she wanted to give him the biggest bath ever. She was all over him! At the time, I was paranoid that she would bond to him and not me. Na, she just thinks he’s super cool to see every once in a while. She still loves him. It’s that radar. She knows who the animal-lovers are, and can seek them out. He would definitely be one of those.
I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I can’t think of it. Oh well, if I remember, I’ll just throw it in another Trixie thought hodgepodge. Hope you enjoyed this one. I love putting them up. It’s so cool to have all these neat things written down.
