Old Dog, New Trick

Yesterday, in between following Theresa around the house with a can of Lysol, I did attend to a few other things around the house. Things that, if left unattended, could get quite unpleasant. Stuff like letting the dog out.

Nicky doesn’t do anything fancy to let us know when he has to go out. He doesn’t ring a doorbell like my friend’s dog. He will either stare at me if I’m not in eye-shot of the door or stare at the door, if I am near it. I always wondered if he stared at the door long enough, if it would open on it’s own. He also doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve to let us know when he wants to come in. Well since he doesn’t have sleeves, that would be a trick, eh? He generally just sits by the door out there and barks.

Yesterday I let him out. About 10 minutes later, I heard the door open and heard his big doggie footsteps. Theresa was with me so she didn’t let him in. I got up and walked into the kitchen. No one was there. Far as I knew, Frank was still out at the nursing home visiting his mom. Hmmm…. I guess I must have the world’s most brilliant dog who figured out how to jump up on his hind legs and turn a doorknob.

Unfortunately, I found out that I wasn’t about to win any big prize for having a brilliant old dog. Frank walked in a few minutes later. I was so disappointed. Not to see Frank, mind you. But here I thought I finally found something useful this 13 1/2 year old big, smelly, shedding dog could do other than leave giant tumbleweeds of dog fur every couple of hours and yet, not go bald.