Saturday, July 16, 2011

In and Out

Dasa continues her efforts to train me, but I have not proven to be an able pupil, at least not on the subject of doors. She thinks it’s unreasonable that she cannot stand in the doorway to the back yard, stick out her cute pink nose, and sniff in a considering manner as she leisurely decides if she should go out or stay in. I try to explain that all the cool air will go out and all sort of bugs and creepy things will fly in if we do not shut the door. This seems quite arbitrary to my little girl.

If I persist, she decides, fine, she’ll go outside. However, when she is outside, it doesn’t seem nearly as interesting as when she was just thinking about going out, so she wants back in. She stands with her front feet on the step and scratches at the door, managing to look forlorn and abandoned if I do not respond in seconds.

When I open the door, she trots lightly inside and wanders off, only to return minutes later to scratch at the inside of the door. I open the door. Dasa stretches her neck long, peering out, sniffing the air, cautiously leaning forward and carefully considering her decision: go out or stay in? She is quite content to stand in the open doorway, and sighs in exasperation when I make her choose a side of the door. However, because I’ve forced her into a quick decision when she wasn’t ready, she soon realizes she should be on the other side of the door.

She seldom seems to tire of this exercise, happily going through the process of scratching at the door, going out, and just as promptly signaling her desire to come back inside and begin the cycle anew.

Ivan watches all of this sprawled on the kitchen floor, not in the least interested in going out into the blazing sun. When I cajole or bribe him into going out, he gets a few steps from the door and lies on the patio, in full sun, although we have lots of shady trees throughout our backyard. He sometimes ambles out and lies in the grass as though exhausted from loping across the veldt. This is again in full sun. After a couple of minutes supine on the savannah, he trots inside to lounge on the floor and sigh heavily so I appreciate his efforts. I will never understand what goes on in their little furry heads.

1 comment:

  1. Hahaha! This reminds me SO much of the antics of my two b's (when we had two.) Our boy was like your Ivan, and liked his creature comforts. Our girl, Lady, is like your Dasa. I really think she's hesitating in the doorway because she's trying to convince ME to go outside with her!

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