Pepper Post

After a silent summer and a whirlwind of a September, I'm ready to get back to writing projects, including the blog.

I want to write eventually about some summer and fall reading, family happenings and pictures, but today will be about the pooch.

I think she first began doing this about a month or two ago...

First of all, Pepper rings the bell to go outside. We trained her to do this when she was a puppy. It's a lot better than scratching or barking at the door to go out.

The door is in the kitchen and leads to the garage.  The cat actually does this now as well, showing that you can teach a cat new tricks...If no one comes, Pepper just rings it again until we come. If we have left her home for too many hours with freedom to roam the house, she will ring it, pull it off the door, and pee next to it. This has happened once. It was funny.

Pepper waiting patiently at the door after ringing.

 The door leads into the garage...

Note the cat door on the door to outside. We haven't managed to teach the cat to go through it.

The door leads to the side of the house. For several months, we had a short wire fence so Pepper would just go to the gate. She eventually figured out that it was easy to hop over--especially once the neighbors across the street had puppies tied up in their front yard.

We had to hold Pepper's collar as we guided her to the gate to the back yard. The puppies are gone now, so she's back to being compliant.

Pepper being compliant.

Most of the time, this is the end of story. We close the door, Pepper does her business, plays, hangs out, chases things...and eventually gives a bark to be let back in. But sometimes, especially on days when I'm home alone with her...

I get this...

The look

...the look.

She doesn't run off. She looks at me, intently. Sometimes she gets into that doggy play pose--head down and upper body on the ground with tail up and wagging. The first time she did it, I was confused for a few seconds. Then I realized.

She was inviting me to play.

Even if I'm busy, I almost always come. There's nothing like being invited to come outside and play. Here's one version of the invitation...

Once I'm out with her, we don't do much. She usually roots around for a stick.

Pepper on the wood chippy part of the yard.

She finds one, runs around, chews on it...

Once she finds a stick, she often won't share it. Or she'll bring it to me, drop it, then grab it again once I reach down to take it. It's a little annoying.

Pepper not sharing her stick.

Sometimes, I can get her running back and forth down this path. It's super cute. She bounces when she runs.

Path to bench we never sit on.

Though it does lead to this area's grass needing constant replanting. It's where she skids to a stop and turns back around. So worth it though.

The skid spot.

She probably does about the same stuff that she does when I'm not there. She just wants company. If she is willing to drop a stick for me to throw, she rarely chases it more than three times. If she's super boisterous, she'll start racing back and forth.

But, usually, we just hang out. She chews on a stick, I look at the basil and wonder about picking it and freezing it and then put it off for another day.

Still not sharing the stick

Pepper's kind of like me. She doesn't need exciting entertainment; she just wants to hang out with her people. I think this is her doggie version of getting a Chai Tea Latte with a friend at Starbucks.