Puppies see a lot of things for the first time, and they have to figure out what they’re looking at. Is it friend or foe? Something to cuddle with, or something to run from? I find it fascinating to watch Callie sort these things out. Here are some examples:
A few weeks ago, we attended the Lake Arrowhead wine festival. Callie was with us on her leash, collecting more than the usual number of may-I-please-pet-your-puppies. As we walked past the chamber music pavilion, Callie stopped cold and sat down looking right at the musicians. I don’t think she’s really a chamber music fan yet; I think she was just seeing something for the first time and taking a few minutes to “puppy process” some new information. Of course, people thought it was adorable, and Callie collected a bunch more may-I-please-pet-your-puppies.
She does the same thing sometimes when the TV is on. I don’t really think she cares about the evening news, or Angels baseball, but she sits down for a few minutes just to figure out what she is seeing.
Callie is still on vacation at Lake Arrowhead, and the area is full of wildlife. We’ve seen a barn owl, nocturnal flying squirrels, coyotes, chipmunks, red-shouldered hawks, white headed woodpeckers, blue jays, and raccoons. Most of the time, Callie just goes about her business, but she did have a confrontation — through the bedroom screen door — with a visiting raccoon. At six-months-old, Callie hasn’t had a lot of reasons to bark. But the raccoon was definitely a reason to bark. Callie figured out right away that it was something to be afraid of.
Callie has also been fascinated by the bass that I’ve caught. She goes along for the boat ride, and when I hook a bass and get it close enough to the boat to splash around, Callie is right there to see what’s happening. I hold the fish up so she can see it before I release it.
You know from earlier posts that Callie loves to play soccer. Well, a few weeks ago, we were babysitting Granddaughters Lauren and Amelia at a park near her house, and two guys were playing soccer. Poor Callie’s leash was tied to a tree, so she couldn’t participate, but she sat and watched for about twenty minutes while the boys kicked the ball back and forth. She obviously wanted to get in on the game.
The other day, Barbara walked Callie past the UCLA Conference Center and down to the lake. At the Conference Center, a dozen kids were playing volleyball. The volleyball probably looked a lot, to Callie, like a soccer ball. Anyway, she stopped, sat down, and she watched the game for about five minutes.
Last night, I took Callie for her before-bedtime walk. The wind was blowing at ten miles per hour, which is a lot of wind for late in the evening. The house lights were shining through some pine trees and onto the street, which made some weird pine-tree-blowing-in-the-wind shadows on the street. This really confused Callie. I don’t think she was scared, but she clearly didn’t know what she was seeing. We walked over to the shadows, so that she could see that there was really nothing there. But she was very cautious. Once we got to the shadows, she walked right on top of them, and she was fine.
Lake Arrowhead is a wildlife haven, there are some wildlife statues around. The other day, Barbara was walking Callie along one of the shoreline roads, and they came upon two six-foot-tall lion statues guarding a driveway. Callie was pretty afraid of the lions, as she should be, I guess. Once again, she sat still for a minute while she tried to figure out what she was looking at. It sure looked like a big, threatening beast. But after a minute she decided that she didn’t have to run away from the lion.
One of our (and Callie’s) favorite places to visit at Lake Arrowhead is the Wishing Well, a gift shop in Lake Arrowhead Village. Here, from “My Doggie Says…: Messages from Jamie. How a dog named Jamie “talks” to her people,” is a picture of Jamie dragging us into the Wishing Well, because they have really big puppy treats.
As you look at the photograph, notice that just inside the door, on the right, there is a welcoming doggie statue. That statue has now been replaced by a statue of a wolf, or maybe a dog-wolf mixed breed. The other day, Callie saw the wolf-like animal and stopped in her tracks. She sat for a few seconds to decide what she was looking at, and she walked right over and gave the statue a big lick on the nose.
The Puppy Perception Pattern here is that Callie is seeing lots of things for the first time. I’m sure it’s part of her survival instinct to “assess the situation,” and then decide how to act. Fight or flight? That’s probably the first question.
But sometimes the answer is “go give it a big lick on the nose!”
