Relative Something

Asher was scratching to get at something underneath one of the dressers in our bedroom. I quickly told him I would help, hoping it would get him to immediately stop scratching. Unsure about what he was after under there, I got down on my knees and pressed my face to the floor.

I didn’t see anything and told him so, as if he would understand my words more than just hearing, “blah blah blah blabbering blah.”

Suddenly, his favorite bright orange “Tricky Treat” ball smacked down beside my head. Asher had picked it up and tossed it at me.

“Aha!” Message received.

I looked under the dresser again. Now that I knew what I was looking for, it was obvious. One of his morsels of the dry food we put inside the ball was lying just out of his reach under there.

While I was writing this out just now, Asher showed up and dropped his Tricky Treat ball on my arm. It’s not clear whether that was a way to let me know he knew what I was writing about, or that he just wanted more treats.

Either way, he is making it very clear that he has not given up on training us to recognize what he wants to communicate.

He is trying to disprove the canine adage that you can’t teach old owners new tricks.

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