Zoe has Attitude
Jul. 15th, 2010 06:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sollersZoe barks at strange things, and at the moment there are a lot of strange things. There may be some element of insecurity but I think there's more to it, judging from two events yesterday.
Last night we had a thunderstorm. Toby, as usual, disregarded the thunder; Zoe neither cowered nor shook but ran towards the window barking like mad, and swaggered off when the peal stopped.
Earlier, they were both in the garden when I heard prolonged barking from her. Toby hadn't joined in so it wasn't somebody going past that they had taken exception to. I found her facing the corner of the garden next to an old stone-built shed where I am growing courgettes etc in pots on a sort of etagere. In front of it, keeping perfectly still, was a large rat.
She was clearly in a quandary. It was an unknown thing and a good proportion of her size, so she wasn't prepared to attack it (though I wouldn't have given much for its survival if she had, having seen her worry her toys and toss them in the air) but she wasn't going to back off either. I solved the problem for her by picking her up and taking her into the house. I told her that yes, that was a very suitable thing to bark at, and she seemed pleased.
In relationship news, Toby is now a lot more relaxed; he's sprawled out on the settee beside me with a little smile.
ETA I've been checking out Wikipedia and I suspect now that Zoe is at least mostly Papillon - maybe even pure; apparently she's too young yet for the long chest hair. Have a look at the photos on miapatrick's lj and tell me what you think
ETA2 We no longer have a rat problem. Either it was poisoned and died in the garden or one of the two killed it; G found it a couple of yards from where I saw it. I do know that this morning Zoe was out there barking agin, but came in as soon as I called her (it had just started to rain heavily, which may be connected)
Last night we had a thunderstorm. Toby, as usual, disregarded the thunder; Zoe neither cowered nor shook but ran towards the window barking like mad, and swaggered off when the peal stopped.
Earlier, they were both in the garden when I heard prolonged barking from her. Toby hadn't joined in so it wasn't somebody going past that they had taken exception to. I found her facing the corner of the garden next to an old stone-built shed where I am growing courgettes etc in pots on a sort of etagere. In front of it, keeping perfectly still, was a large rat.
She was clearly in a quandary. It was an unknown thing and a good proportion of her size, so she wasn't prepared to attack it (though I wouldn't have given much for its survival if she had, having seen her worry her toys and toss them in the air) but she wasn't going to back off either. I solved the problem for her by picking her up and taking her into the house. I told her that yes, that was a very suitable thing to bark at, and she seemed pleased.
In relationship news, Toby is now a lot more relaxed; he's sprawled out on the settee beside me with a little smile.
ETA I've been checking out Wikipedia and I suspect now that Zoe is at least mostly Papillon - maybe even pure; apparently she's too young yet for the long chest hair. Have a look at the photos on miapatrick's lj and tell me what you think
ETA2 We no longer have a rat problem. Either it was poisoned and died in the garden or one of the two killed it; G found it a couple of yards from where I saw it. I do know that this morning Zoe was out there barking agin, but came in as soon as I called her (it had just started to rain heavily, which may be connected)
