Sparky shit on his friend, Mr. Moose, but the strength of their friendship has allowed them to move passed their differences.
That’s nice, but I wasn’t going to touch a shitty moose and I sure as hell didn’t want Sparky dragging it around my house. Mr. Moose was washed in the laundry sink, and thrown in the dryer with a load of t-shirts.
Here’s the weird thing. Sparky recognized Mr. Moose in the bottom of the laundry basket. I brought up two baskets of laundry to sort as I watched Youtube. Sparky has no interest in laundry, other than getting to sit on the couch with me.
Mr. Moose was washed with laundry detergent, so smelled like everything else in the basket. Sparky’s situational awareness is greater than I expected. His tail shows his eagerness to be back with his old mate.
I moved the basket to the couch to get a photo of Mr. Moose without Sparky’s head in the way. Even that was a near thing as Sparky ignored all propriety and jumped up on the furniture to supervise the rescue of Moose.
The grey corduroy object, indicated by the red arrow, is Mr. Moose.
I have begun to suspect that Sparky has a more nimble mind than I do. When we go out for a walk, my sluggish mind may register that leaves are accumulating in the back yard again, notice the weather conditions, and that’s about it. My cognitive processing is occupied with deciding whether we should walk to the bench or down to the bridge.
Sparky is considering a myriad of options. Should he walk to the corner of the woods and dump his bladder, or conserve his resource to be parsed out at critical locations? He has a keen interest in acorns and leaves. Sparky generally disregards highway sounds, unless he hears something unusual. He is alert to the sights, sounds and smells coming from the woods. Sparky must inspect the fence line and thicket. At the fence, he has to decide whether he should take a dump now, or wait until he gets to the bridge. Sparky is never just walking.
When I call for Sparky, I want him to come. That’s it. That’s my entire thought process. When Sparky hears my call, he weighs my sense of urgency and resolve, and considers whether he should wander a little further, remain engaged on his current task, wander my way or run toward me with the hope that I’ll give him a treat.
Alternatively, most of the time in the house, Sparky is partially asleep and partially awake. He can lay on a cushion by the wood stove or in the sun for hours. He appears to be mostly sleeping. After I get out of bed, I am 80% awake as I shamble around with coffee for a while, but remain 100% awake all day. Well, unless I take a short nap, then I’m 10% awake.
Sparky can’t read or do math, but his brain can be awfully busy. Dogs don’t get enough credit for thinking.
I am gratified that Sparky and Mr. Moose remain friends. Mr. Moose was absent since the day before the election. A week has passed, and the Bull Moose candidate didn’t win, and neither did the guy who eats babies. Since TR and Biden were not running, their disagreement never made any sense. It can be like that with friends.