There are some times when I wish I could just have a
conversation with Teddy. I’d ask him the questions that I already ask him, but he’d
actually respond. This way, I would easily know if Margaret walked or fed him
before I got up. He’d be able to tell me what he ate that he wasn’t supposed
to, so I could hide it from him. And I’d be able to let him know that I’m leaving
for a little while, and “Don’t worry puppy—I’ll be back soon!” would suffice. But
mainly, I would really like to have a conversation about his first year here in
this world.
Teddy is deathly afraid of guys. I’ll walk him around the
neighborhood and if there’s a lady walking he’ll go say hi to the lady. But if
we walk by a guy, he’ll either a.) hide behind me or b.) bark at said guy. If
the guy is soft spoken, in our apartment, and Margaret and I both seem to like
him, then things are for the most part, okay. When we adopted him they weren’t
able to tell us his history other that he came from a high-kill shelter in
Hillsborough County. They didn’t know for how long or what he was up to
before-hand.
A little less concerning issue is his separation anxiety.
When we leave, he bobs his head out the window just staring with a look of despair
and abandonment. This makes it very hard to leave. But when we come home from
class or work, he greets us at the door in a big way. He wags his tail, he
yelps a little, he jumps on the table, he’ll leap and cling to my leg. The first
time I got home from work after he was alone by himself, I was worried that he
was going to be that hyper-active all the time. But then he calms himself down
after no more than five minutes.
It's moment like these when I wish I was the dog whisperer. |