Bonk

In addition to the wonderful world of blogs I also subscribe to a couple of dog oriented e-mail lists. One is focused on dachshunds and the other is a much more generalized dog list called Canine-L.

On Canine-L we share stories about our dogs, ask and give training advice, give support when needed and any other thing that is dog related. It is an international list, from the backwaters of rural China to almost every state in the Union.

This past week this little gem of a story was posted by Denise.

Ellis has taught himself a new command. I would love to take credit for it, but he came up with this on his own.

Ellis really can't see anymore.

He is also very unsteady on his feet. So when he starts moving he often bumps into things. At first when he would bang into something I would say "bonk" for no particular reason. A few times I anticipated the "bonking" before he actually made contact with the object. We are talking nano-seconds here.

Then I noticed that if I said "bonk" soon enough, Ellis would actually slow down and change direction. If he was boxed into a corner, I would say "bonk", "bonk", "bonk" until he turned enough to find his way out.

Of course this means that whenever Ellis is moving I really have to be watching out for him. And since he is a bit hard of hearing, I must also say "bonk" rather loudly.

I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what is going on when we are outside.

Denise and assorted springers