I've taken him to the Vet for checkups and I'm never worried. So, he behaves great. The time I took him to the Vet to have his hip X-rays reviewed for a second opinion (to see if it was worth it going through with the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals -ofa- Certification) I was nervous. Now, remember, Zuni normally knows who I'm anxious about. This time, he couldn't pinpoint the culprit (it was the X-ray, not the Vet) so he barked and threatened everyone who came near me, making sure he'd cover all the angles ;-) We muzzled him... (OFA GOOD by the way!)
A huge spray of water flies over me just as I'm walking into my garage to go play/work with Zuni. I had a heart attack and thought my waterlines had frozen and busted. You don't want that with an adobe (mud) walled garage... So, I scooted Zuni and Hummel outside so I could go find out where the water was coming from but kept freaking out more as i couldn't find it fast enough in my panic. I'm sure he knew of my anxiety and was again in the dark as to why I was so frantic. I called my neighbor whom Zuni had met maybe 3 or 4 sporadic times, and the neighbor said he'd come over right away. I, meantime found the shutoff but wondered what happened with the neighbor coming over 'right away' and as I went outside to go ck, he comes up hill and says "I would have been here sooner, had it not been for Zuni blocking my way" He said Zuni did an excellent job in preventing him from coming nearer to the house, and it wasn't until his wife, who Zuni knows well, came up and was able to 'convince' Zuni to let him continue. My neighbor said it made quite an impression on him to see Zuni and Hummel come run high speed towards him... Yep, That'll make your heart stop...
The last story is about us going to the Waste Station. (county dump). Where a VERY obnoxious guy (used)* to work. He would not let you do this, or that, and always sending you from one bin to another for NO reason. So, i thought iI'd be ahead of him and ask him which bin does he want me to use ? He says "A", right. We start unloading quite a large load and while Carlos is hauling a HUGE and heavy doghouse onto the bin, the jerk changes his mind and says for us to take the doghouse off and put it back in my trailer and drive it to the other bin... I THINK NOT , knowwhatimean...
I look at the guy and tell him he must be out of his mind to think that I will do that and he starts approaching me yelling and screaming that I HAVE TO DO WHAT HE SAYS bla bla bla... And, I go "if you want to get on my nerves some more, go for it " and he starts getting really close in my face. I'm not afraid nor uncomfortable. First of all, there are 3 witnesses and Zuni is in the car with the back window open, so he can jump out if he needs to. He knew I was not scared, or whatever and just laid there while i was literally SCREAMING on the top of my lungs at the guy. Now that is knowing the difference. Most other dogs would have been out and into action biting away for NO GOOD REASON. This boy doesn't back down in situations he's not supposed to, but will NOT act either when he knows I have the situation under control. (And this is WHY the guy USED* to work there.....)
I traveled with Zuni to see one of his pups, Zoltan, in Eldorado. Since Zoltan had just had his 'operation' I could not let Zuni see him as Zoltan is crazy about his daddy and would pop a stitch, so I left Zuni in the car with the windows half open as it was pretty hot. Well, within no time Zuni had popped thru one of the windows to be near us, and Zoltan indeed was in pup heaven for a second as I put Zuni back in the car and rolled up all four windows to about one feet of space this time. Speaking of determination (which Zoltan inherited too, but that's another story) Zuni crammed himself through my front passenger side window, hurting his leg somewhat and nearly neutering himself :( I'm guessing. He's 26" at the withers and hair was all along side the top of the window where he pushed himself through. What I'm trying to indicate with this that if ever I'm in trouble, he'll go through fire, windows, barbed wires and such to get me out of it. This time he just wanted to be visiting with his son too as he had been there several times before and didn't understand WHY he could not come out... In training he does great on the long down for example ;)
I've heard so many stories about dogs and their skills ( i could give many examples). This is not a skill. But, then what is it? psychic...
-to be continued-
