I’ve known since basically forever that my dog is a protector. I wouldn’t say he’s a guard dog (I’ve honestly no idea what he would do if someone tried to mess with me or my family…he’d probably not be happy at all), more of an alert dog. I was reminded of this fact twice today, and also why this is one of the reasons I love having him around.
Liam sneaking up on my dad. 🙂
The first instance was this morning. I was working on something (facebook, maybe…?) and was gradually realizing that one of the neighbor dogs was incessantly barking outside, which they don’t normally do. About this time my dog Liam barked as well. I’m not sure if I’ve said this before, but Liam doesn’t bark. Ever. The only time he will ever bark is if he thinks something is wrong, or if something is out of place or out of the ordinary. So I went out on the back deck to see what the fuss is about…turns out, there were some people in the backyard next door looking at the house to rent or something, I think. My boy knew they weren’t supposed to be there, he knew they weren’t usually there, hadn’t seen them before, so he told me.
On a slightly different note, there’s this weird thing that happens to me when he barks. I don’t really know why or how, but I seem to hear him even before he’s actually making sound. Even if I’m in bed and he barks at something, I always feel like I’m already moving before he’s properly started to bark. Maybe it’s one of those weird mom senses or something. I don’t know.
The second instance was later in the day. I was washing dishes and happened to glance out the window. Liam was sitting straight up, staring at the road that goes behind our house. He seemed pretty intent on something, so I just thought “Hm, wonder what’s caught his attention?”. A few seconds later, I began to hear sirens, and pretty soon an ambulance screamed by on the road. Again, he knew it was coming. In this instance, he wasn’t alerting me to anything, cause cars go by on the road all the time, but he was still very, very aware of what was happening.
His serious face.
I’ve learned, over the last few years especially, to always, always trust the animals. I know some dogs may actually bark at nothing, but in my experience, my pets never lie. Even the cats. Our skinny kitty will lock on to something out the window. I’ll get down to her level and look, and it may only be a leaf blowing in the yard, or a bird on the roof three houses down, but there’s always something there. It’s never nothing.
So, essentially I kind of adore my dog. Not only is he keenly aware of every single thing going on around us at all times, he’s the goofiest boogerling ever who likes belly rubs and playing hide behind the tree and sitting all ninety-something pounds of himself on my big toe…he’s a goose. 🙂
In case anyone needed proof of his gooberness.
PS All of these photos are from a while ago…I don’t have very many recent pictures, and it was a good excuse to go back and see how adorable and gangly he was. 🙂
Fat Willy Photography 