Farm Fresh Blog

Thursday, April 12 2012

A Terrible Thing To Waste

I'm dating myself here, but many years ago, there was a commercial with a slogan that stuck. It said,

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Wise words to live by. Which leads us to the Brainiac of the Day Award:

Rocking RL Gunsmoke

Mr. Dillon!

The D-Man takes the Brainiac of the Day Award with his stunning display of 'true to his breed' characteristics.

Let me set the stage:

Am on phone with Neighbor discussing Mother. Note little green lizard in house. Catch little green lizard. Open window. Deposit lizard outside. He runs off. Close window. Note that D-Man has seen window open and comes over to investigate. Ignore him and return to conversation. Glance out window to find the D-ster with Little Green Lizard. Bang on window. D-Man looks up. Lizard scampers off. Clever-Fast-Chocolate-Predator snatches up Hapless Victim. Open window and scream at Chocolate Monster to release Victim. He ignores me.

"Surely there must be a misunderstanding. Perhaps Mom 'wants' this creature. After all, it smells like Mom's hand."

Chocolate Monster scoops up Green Victim who is now turning brown and happily delivers him to the window. I open window to take Lizard. Lizard Dog releases Victim to my hand. Victim screams in silent terror. I drop him back outside where he runs off. Pull Chocolate Thunder through the open window. Continue phone conversation.

Note that Chocolate Thunder has disappeared. Hmmmm.... screen door is open. D-Man has let himself back out into yard through front door. Go to back window. Yes . . . Mr. Matt Dillon has run around the house, located the lizard, and is bringing me said Lizard . . . again. I open window and once again, he delivers a terrified but otherwise un-harmed brown lizard to me. He climbs through window again. Joy! Joy! What a wonderful game for everyone - except the lizard!

Note: Although he is the only dog in the house who would even 'care' to fetch a lizard, fortunately for the lizard, he is also the only dog in the house who would not mangle the poor thing during the fetch. It's the small blessings in life we should focus on. (grin)

Posted by: forensicfarmgirl AT 11:45 am | Permalink | 8 Comments | Email

Comments:

What a great dog (despite his lizard escapades)! A soft mouth is exactly what OH is hoping for in his chocolate dog. Oh the joy of a wild duck breast w/o tooth marks in it!!

Posted by CeeCee on 04/12/2012 - 01:19 PM

While I'm not really big on eating duck or goose, I AM really keen on having a dog that can retrieve a cell phone or a television remote without damaging them. Other Half, however, is quite keen on the idea of unharmed birds!

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 04/12/2012 - 05:12 PM

Ah! The beauty of a soft mouthed dog :-) Isn't a Lab great? Dillon's future as a great retriever is showing in his lizard fetching. I don't know what OH would think of it, but now would be a great time to teach him a trick that not all dogs can learn. Thatis, to pick up an item you POINT TO. As you might imagine, this is a very handy trick. I haven't been able to convince Terri to fetch things I point to. In fact, she doesn't seem to understand the concept of "point to". Sigh ... not the brightest Terv around.

Posted by Terri's Pal on 04/12/2012 - 07:55 PM

Oh my-this will be a different story when he meets Stewart Little or Mickey and Minnie. I can hear it now. HeHe

Posted by sue in Wyoming on 04/12/2012 - 08:30 PM

Oh Boy! Dillon is going to be FUN! You can teach him all kinds of fun things. My Lab/Golden cross used to be able to take things to whom ever you told her to. Shannon would carry towels to the shower in the basement, shampoo too. She wouldn't touch metal, but put a can of beer in a plastic bag and she would take it to my husband in the garage. She also retrieved my toddler from all kinds of places he wasn't supposed to be. Wow. After 13 years I still miss that dog. She went over the Rainbow Bridge at the grand age of 14 1/2.

Posted by Pam on 04/13/2012 - 11:07 AM

To me, the pointing or directional fetch is one of the most important things they can learn because it is the framework for so many other things I teach. My terv, Navarre, was the most solid at direction fetching. I took a spill from a horse and ended up in a wheelchair for a month. That dog was the best assistance dog simply because I could tell him to fetch my crutches, bring me this, bring me that, etc. He was awesome. That's what I want to teach Dillon.

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 04/13/2012 - 03:37 PM

I hear ya, Pam! That's the way I felt about Navarre. You don't realize how handy those skills are until you look around and realize none of your other dogs can do them! I haven't had a dog as handy since I lost Navarre. Lily fetches, but wants to shred everything. Dillon shows much more promise.

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 04/13/2012 - 03:40 PM

soft mouth indeed - lucky lizard!

Posted by c on 04/14/2012 - 05:09 PM