Sadie, a Dog with No Apparent Purpose
By
Karen W. Waggoner
Sadie, a Dog with No Apparent Purpose
On my favorite tv show,
Keeping Up Appearances, Daisy refers to her husband as “bone idle,” a
description that comes to mind when I watch our latest pound dog, Sadie,
snooze on the bed in my sewing room. She moves every day at least twice for
her visits to the backyard and for meals. Usually combining those errands,
she manages to avoid unnecessary stair-climbing and bed mounting. She will
grudgingly rouse herself to raise her voice at any visitor who comes to the
front door, but seldom notices the meter readers who approach from the back.
Sadie’s laziness came as a surprise to my husband and me who acquired her
because we thought she would inspire our overweight Lab to get some
exercise. Ha! What we acquired was a dog whose idea of exercise is
stretching, fore and aft, when she awakens and before circling to find the
next best sleeping position.
She is
apparently a combination beagle and blue tick hound bred for hunting. The
beagle part is apparent in her face and floppy ears, marked with large black
and brown circles. The rest of her is white with a million black dots,
taller and more finely boned than a beagle, built streamlined like a
blue-tick. However, just about the only thing Sadie hunts is a pillow on
which to rest her head or a place to hide when the vacuum cleaner appears.
She is terrified of thunder too and will plant herself behind any chair in
which I might be sitting or directly under my feet if I’m standing. There
she quivers and shakes and shivers until the storm has passed. Then she
goes back to bed for a snooze. I think Sadie was a total failure as a
hunting dog, too frightened of loud noises to be effective in the field.
She must also
have been abused in her original owner’s hands, probably in an effort to get
her to hunt, for she is afraid of sticks of any kind including mop handles,
brooms, a long duster and my husband’s belt if he takes it off. This fear
and her terror about noises, of course, endear her to us who feel sorry for
any creature misused by owners. We don’t force her to do anything, and
successfully housetrained her without any threats by using only positive
reinforcement. House training a dog by reward is time-consuming because
someone has to be outdoors with the dog at least once every hour and must
supervise the dog closely in order to be able to give her the praise she
loves each time she is successful, but it is infinitely rewarding to teach a
dog, or a child, by loving methods. You have the opportunity teach the dog
or child to love you rather than to fear you.
Finding Sadie asleep on the
backyard steps is a harbinger of spring more significant than crocuses and
daffodils. Her ventures into the world of the squirrel, bird, and
occasional rabbit do not deter her from snoozing in a spot of sun. She
will, if necessary, shift her position from one step to another in order to
follow the warmth, but if that gets too difficult, she returns to her spot
on the bed. After sleeping all day, Sadie manages to stretch and yawn again
just before I retire and to circle herself somewhere in the vicinity of my
back where she sleeps all night. She is a superior bed companion.
Since we
acquired Sadie from the pound, I have decided that she is the epitome of the
idle rich. Despite having been starved and abandoned when we found her, she
has adjusted to the opportunity to be absolutely useless as if she were born
with a mile-long pedigree and a life of inherited wealth. We love her
though because she likes to snuggle and because she is amazingly beautiful.
Is it possible that Sadie saw us coming down that corridor at the pound and
decided we were the right people who would give her everything she
wants? I think so and I don’t regret it one bit.
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