April 16, 2014

A sniff too far

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon when my bipeds decided to go exploring with me. We parked the car just off the road at the beginning of a track and set off on foot. We hadn’t gone far when we noticed something large and white following us, but every time we turned round he pretended that he just happened to be going the same way and had no interest in us at all.

I’m not following you, I’m just sniffing

Pyrenean Mountain Dogs, Great Pyrenees, Clowie and Romeo

Maybe I’m following you

He gradually worked his way closer to us, but was a little nervous of the bipeds. He moved away if they went too close to him, but he followed closely behind me. My bipeds said we looked as though we were dancing the conga!

This is how we dance the conga!

We stopped to sniff at something interesting and when I moved on with my bipeds, he stayed to sniff. My bipeds wondered whether he had lost interest in us and would go home, but a moment later we turned to see him hurrying to catch up with us. By this time my bipeds had named him Romeo, they’d obviously noticed his amorous intentions!

Wait for me!

The track followed a stream, but crossed it to follow the opposite bank a few times. We had to splash through the stream!

Pyrenean Mountain Dogs, Great Pyrenees, in a stream

Splashing along

We met some other bipeds going in the opposite direction. They greeted my bipeds and my bipeds asked if the dog belonged to them – my bipeds were a bit concerned about him. The other bipeds said that he wasn’t theirs, but he spent a lot of time wandering about in the area. There was a house on a hill overlooking where we had parked and they said he lived up there.

Romeo became a little too persistent and intimate in his sniffing. I sat and gave him a look, he took the hint and backed off a little. It wasn’t long before he was getting too pushy again. I repeated the sit a few times but he became even more persistent and I had to tell him he was overstepping the mark. He flopped down on the track looking very sad.

Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Great Pyrenees, in the mud

I didn’t mean any harm, honest!

I went a little closer and looked down at him. He said he was very sorry that he had got too excited and impolite, but that he hadn’t seen such a gorgeous creature as me since the last time he’d caught sight of his own reflection. I said that was a nice compliment – almost!

My bipeds decided it was time for us to return to the car. Romeo was friendly but respectful to me on the way back. He decided he wasn’t nervous of my bipeds after all.

Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Great Pyrenees, being stroked

How did you know I like my ears being rubbed?

Head of Clowie, Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Great Pyrenees

I taught my biped to do that!

As we got nearer to the car, I heard my bipeds discussing what to do about Romeo. But as soon as they unlocked the car, he moved away and crossed the road. We could see him bounding up towards the house on the hill.

See you next Wednesday!

March 12, 2014

Hot on the trail

I was enjoying a pleasant walk along a quiet track with one of my bipeds when I picked up a fresh scent that interested me. I put my nose down and moved forward as quickly as I could, doing my best impression of a Bloodhound. My biped didn’t seem to want to move as quickly as I did. Each time I tried to go a bit faster she told me to stop pulling. I paused and slowed each time so that she wouldn’t stop and refuse to move and then I put my nose back on the trail.

Once I almost lost it, as there was a large puddle that was as wide as the track. I zigzagged back and forth across the track on the other side sniffing really hard, until I found it again. My biped laughed and said I was snorting like a pig! I ignored her, she obviously has no idea how to examine a smell – it’s important to exhale thoroughly before inhaling a brand new batch of air. I suppose this does sound a little like snorting, but at least I don’t spit like wine tasters do!

I continued along the track with my nose down for quite a distance. We turned a corner and there were less trees. I heard my biped say, “Oh, that’s what’s so interesting!”

By Mark Watson (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalimistuk/477649970/) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By HTO (Own work (own photo)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Elucidate (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I didn’t bother to check what it was that she found interesting. I heard her tell me that sometimes it’s easier to look, but I didn’t look up – this scent trail was important and I wanted to follow it as quickly as possible so that I could catch up with the source of the scent. My biped told me to stop pulling a few more times and then I heard her say hello to someone, but I didn’t take much notice as I knew I was getting close and I didn’t want to lose the scent.

Then I heard another biped say, “What are you tracking, Clowie?”

I kept my nose down – I knew I was getting really close and I didn’t want to be distracted. Then I heard my friend Sandy greet me with a friendly, “Woof, woof!”

This time I looked up – it was his trail I’d been following! He was only a few yards away and he was watching me and wagging his tail. I’d been hoping to surprise him, but it didn’t matter. We sniffed each other and then we strolled back to the village together. Our bipeds were chatting away to each other about nothing of any importance, while Sandy and I discussed the finer points of following a trail efficiently.

The bipeds seem to think it’s funny when dogs are sniffing away and not seeing what’s almost under their noses. I think that’s rather ironic, a case of the pot calling the kettle black, when bipeds usually search for something using their eyes and don’t smell what’s right under their noses!

See you next Wednesday!

February 26, 2014

Follow me!

I love hiking in new places with my bipeds. Sometimes we walk in a big loop and end up where we started, but quite often we return along the same path. Some of the paths we walk aren’t used very much and it can be difficult to see the path, but I can always retrace our steps.

They noticed this when I was still quite young and they have encouraged me to show them which way to go when we are on our way home. The first time I did this on a long hike, they were surprised when I suddenly settled down for a rest – then they remembered that we’d stopped there for a rest on the way and that made them laugh.

One of our favourite walks separates into two paths that meet up again later – one path is longer than the other and goes to the stream. When we get to that fork, sometimes they choose the direct path and sometimes they say to me, “Which way would you like to go, Clowie?”

It’s a rhetorical question!

Of course I want to go to the stream!

One day we were trying to find a path to the top of a small mountain. We found the beginning of it at the base and began to follow it, but the path grew more and more difficult to see and the trees grew thicker and thicker. We came across a small stream and followed that upwards until that became too steep. Paths in the mountains often follow streams for part of the route.

The bipeds thought they saw the path again and we carried on up. We took a few detours when there was a rocky part without trees and they could see out better and get an idea of how near the top we were. Our progress became even more difficult and they decided that we didn’t have time to get to the top and back down again before it got dark. We stopped and they turned round.

One of them said, “Path? What path?”

They always seem to find it harder to see the path down a mountain when they turn round, but I don’t think they had a clue this time!

The other one said, “I hope Clowie remembers the way, otherwise it’s going to take us ages to find a way back down.”

I had no doubts at all. I headed down through the trees with them following behind me. Occasionally one of them would say, “Are you sure, Clowie?”

I just gave them a look and continued. Then I took a sharp right turn and one of them said, “I’m fairly sure that’s not the way, Clowie!”

I continued a few yards and then stopped and looked at them, while it dawned on them that this was one of the places they’d tried to see out from amongst the trees. Did they apologise? No, but the look on their faces was priceless.

They told me I was clever and made a fuss of me and asked me to carry on. I guided them safely to the lower reaches of the mountain where even they could see the path again!

See you next Wednesday!