My dog the almost-hero

[mbc1963]

The little wire-haired Jack Rusell, Ozzie, was playing ball with a long lead on at the local park when he took off after something. (Squirrel? Deer?) The owner was frantic after searching for an hour, and I said I'd help her look, since my Buddy loves both her and her dog. I kept saying, "Where's Ozzie? Find Ozzie?" and making sniffing noises. Since this is the game we play with Buddy's favorite toy, I could see that he knew what I was asking. He actually picked up a trail, but after a few minutes backtracked and ended back where Ozzie's owner was standing.

 

I realized that Buddy thinks Ozzie is the name of the WOMAN: everytime I see her and the dog, I say, "Oh, there's OZZIE! Go say hi!" But Buddy always heads for the owner, who sometimes has tasty treats. So, Buddy successfully found the location of what he perceived to be Ozzie.

 

So close to doggie greatness, yet so far. ::Sigh::

 

Ozzie, by the way, was found about a mile away, on a side street. He did have a tag with phone number, and I think someone had called the house to tell them where the dog was.

 

Mary

[SoloRiver]

My friend Colleen owns Solo's ex-girlfriend, Audrey (Lab/Boxer/Pit/who knows). Colleen and I determined through trial and error that Solo thought Colleen was Audrey. I don't know what he thought Audrey's name was, but I am fairly certain that whenever he saw Audrey (before their tumultuous breakup) what went through his head was something like, "Hey, baby."

[sweet_ceana]

what went through his head was something like, "Hey, baby."

[Barb Scott]

My husband only knows the names of our dog friends by their dogs' names so Buddy was probably doing the best he could.

Barb S

[ShoresDog]

My husband only knows the names of our dog friends by their dogs' names so Buddy was probably doing the best he could.

I too only know the names of some of our dog friends by their dogs' names, so it's not a guy thing.

 

I'm sure Buddy would have found Ozzie for you if he only knew Ozzie's name!

 

Recently my inside-only cat Carlos sneaked out into the backyard (he occasionally does this, and when he does, he is terrified and hides under a bush all night). I told Daisy "Go get Carlos!" She looked at me with this expression, "Are you kidding me?" She normally gets in big trouble for bugging him. I said, "Yes, Daisy, go get Carlos!" Her expression now was, "I've died and gone to heaven!" She darted out into the yard, quickly found him behind some shrubs, and chased him right back in through the open door.

[nancy]

I have to identify our neighbors to my husband as:

 

Scarlett's mom & dad

Juno's family

Hunter's dad

Smokey's mom

Bear's people

 

Then, there are:

 

the evil Yorkies

the bouncing mini-dob

 

We didn't know anyone in this area until we got Fergie and started walking. Now we know everyone!

 

Fergie knows more names than DH does. So DH gets upset when Ferg goes to the right one - instead of where DH sent her.

[mbc1963]

I also know very few human names. When someone becomes a "regular" enough for me to know his or her human name, I know I have made a special connection! I need to work harder at letting my dog know that it's the dog names I'm telling him, not the human names.

 

But the dogs do make connections for you, don't they? I got a lead for a great summer job from a woman I walk dogs with sometiems. She is looking for full-time work, but she called a mutual dog-walking friend, who drove to her house and got the application info for me, then drove it to my house and dropped it off. It's kind of like six degrees of doggie separation.

 

Mary

[ShoresDog]

And sometimes we don't even know the dog's name! I've mentioned to my husband several dogs by their epithets, and he knew immediately who I was talking about. "Evil Akita." "Swivel-headed Dog." "The Beagle Gang" (three beagles, although with beagles, I think even two constitute a gang!) "Yappy McYapYap" (what else, a terrier).