Scribblings

He may be small but…

My Snowy may be a small dog in size but his heart is as big as all outdoors. And I found out just how noble and courageous a dog he is yesterday.

I guess I need to start by stating that I have never been a nap person. In my youth, if I went to bed I wanted it to be for a good night’s sleep. Naps just left me groggy during the day and unable to sleep at night.

This has all changed with the advent of advanced middle age. I suddenly find myself napping at the most inopportune times. Merely give me a comfortable seat and a comfortable position and I am out cold for at least an hour if not more. Which is what happened yesterday.

I got my birds out for their usual afternoon play. Their doors are opened and they can climb on their playpen or play on their own cages or just visit or whatever. Only rule is they stay on the cages. I usually enforce this rule by a constant check on them. But yesterday I made the mistake of going upstairs to read the paper. And I made the further mistake of getting comfortable while I did it.

I woke up to Snowy pawing on my arm. No matter how many times I shook him off, he wouldn’t stop. Finally, his persistent pawing killed all chances of going back to my nap so I got up. Since Snowy had never done this before, I had to guess that he needed to go out really, really badly. So I put on my slippers and headed downstairs to the yard.

The thing is, I had to pass through the bird room to get there. Everyone in the room was screaming which, as anyone who owns parrots will tell you, is not unusual. So I walked through quickly and got to my office with the door to the yard. Only once we got there, Snowy didn’t head for the door. He stood in the center of the room and stared. And stared. And stared.

Eventually I found what he was staring at. A very scared little bird that had flown off his cage and out of the safety of the room he knew into the scary unknown of my office. I picked him up as he cried and clung to me. We sat together for almost 30 minutes until his whole being clearly relaxed as he snuggled as hard as he could into my neck.

After I put Sassy back in his cage, I turned to Snowy and realized I was in the presence of my very own Lassie. It may not have been Timmy in a well but it was the same thing. And I am so very proud of him. Instead of attacking the bird, he came to get me to rescue the bird.

What a good, good dog.

2 thoughts on “He may be small but…”

  1. Dave says:

    Advanced middle age???

    1. Elise Patkotak says:

      You want to call me something else?

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