Part II, Day 23: Spring Melt

Zoe is one of the quietest dogs I know, but now and then she has a habit of barking at unidentified inanimate objects.

I witnessed this behavior for the first time in her old vet's office when she was a puppy.  In the lobby were two, child-size ceramic statues of a cat and a dog.  Zoe barked at them, then got down in fetal position and whined when they didn't bark or meow back.  The vet tech understood immediately our pup's confusion; she picked up the cat statue, which I think now might have been an optimist's piggy bank--i.e., huge--and showed her the bottom cork, and how the thing was hollow.  Then she lowered it toward Zoe's snout for her to sniff.  I guess it didn't smell like meat, or like something she could chase, and Zoe ignored it for the rest of the visit.

Zoe has barked at:

• snowmen;
• outdoor Christmas decorations, including a giant tableau of blow-up reindeer waiting for a bus;
• the red sandstone jail 'liberty" marker that indicates the border of where night prisoners could roam to in our village, back in the day, for exercise--prisoners were allowed go on walks or jobs in the day, it was all done on the honor system;
• bags moving in the wind that look from a distance like they could be dying critters;
• scarecrows;
• lawn ornaments such as bent-over maidens and deer
• he-man lumberjack statues at Adirondack-themed diners

Perhaps it's just a matter of taste.  Maybe my dog is an even bigger snob than I am and she barks at things that violate her aesthetics.

The day after the surprise late-April snow, she barked briefly in confusion at what looked like a few dirty pieces of Styrofoam. 

those two dirty looking white things used to be snow

As you read this post, these little white blobs are probably gone

So now it is spring again, and Zoe can do what she likes to do when there's no more snow to pounce on, roll in, or eat.

Bark at living things, especially the geese.  She likes to chase them into the water and watch them glide away.

Happy spring, everyone!