(no subject)
Chatting to Mum last night on the webcam, she needed to go to the bathroom partway through the conversation. (Don't ask me why she didn't realise before you get on the international phone call.. but it's not like it's costing anything)! So she goes upstairs for a few minutes and I'm left alone listening to the all the beautiful birds chirping in the early hours of the Sunny C.
No-one there. Left to listen to the pretty birds all on my own. No Mum, No Dad, No Wonderdog..
Then an idea suddenly occurred to me.
I've been yet unable to decide whether The Wonderdog understands that it's me Mum & Dad talk to. Normally she'd recognise my voice under any circumstances, but what makes a person recognisable to a dog? Is it the sound of their voice alone? Is the mixture of the sound of them, the visual and their scent? How much or little is required of any one of these elements for them to know who someone is? How much do they really understand if they are limited to only one sense?
So I called her. I called her through the microphone and listened to the sound of my voice calling her name echo around the downstairs living room. I called again. And again.
And then I heard the pitter patter of huge clumping elephant feet come bashing down the stairs at top speed, crash around the chair and then a furry black face with floppy ears propped up came into view and stopped directly in front of the computer where she looked straight at the computer monitor and cocked her head to the side in her completely adorable but confused look.
Because she's SO GORGEOUS when she does that(!) and I was SO excited that she had responded (and so well!) I began cooing to The Wonderdog telling her how gorgeous and wonderful she was and she started to get all bashful and shy (yeah, it happens!). Meanwhile Mum had finished and hurried back downstairs to see what was going on and sat down on the chair at the desk in front of the computer so I continued to coo and The Wonderdog jumped up on her lap (front legs only, she's too big for anything else) and started going sooky at the computer. I cooed to her some more and she turns around and gave Mum a big long wet kiss.
Then I realised! It's been transference (trans-furry?) the whole time! Whenever I've said hello to her and she's turned around and licked whoever has been there.. it's her need to give affection back and not having the person there who she's needing to give it to, so she's been giving it to whoever is there at the time.
I have no doubt she's incredibly confused at what's going on. She can hear me talking and might even be able to understand that I'm somewhere there that Mum and Dad keep looking at and talking to. But she can't see me, and she certainly can't smell me.
But she can hear me, and she definitely knows it's me!