JACK AND THE SINK PLUG

We've had a lot of discussion on the site about dogs recently and only this morning I recounted what I had heard on the radio about the Labrador with the 95% success rate in detecting bowel cancel. Animal behaviour has always fascinated me and in my various jobs working with them it has paid me to become fairly adept in weighing up their condition, behaviour and psychology. If that sounds far-fetched think of 'One Man and His Dog'. The task can only be accomplished if there is an almost perfect understanding of the sheep by both the dog and master and also understanding between the man and the dog. It's a very complicated matter. So when I see unusual behaviour in an animal I start from the point that it's happening for a reason, then try to puzzle out what that reason is. I have an example for you as it happens.

It all started yesterday when I finally admitted that the rubber sink plug in the kitchen had reached its sell-by date. Simple, call in at Briggs and Duxbury's and get a new 2” plug. No such thing, not a sink plug in the place! So, at dinnertime, on my way down from Letcliffe Jack and I called in at the Shambles on Town Square and while they didn't have a 2” plug, they had one of those universal plugs that rely on water pressure to hold them in place. So I bought one.

Back home, out with the pliers, old plug off and new one on and I settled down in my rocking chair to an afternoon with Ernie Bevin, Jack, as usual, curled up on the sheepskin on my computer chair and slept off his exercise.

We have good routines and at 15:40 Jack jumped down, stretched and announced he was ready for his tea. I went through the usual routine, bowl of cooked mince out of the fridge, a slice in his bowl, into the microwave for one minute, handful of biscuit on top, stir it up and then go through the daily routine of teaching him to eat again. This is a Patterdale thing I think, Mrs Marsh the vet has them and has the same small problem. You dip your finger in the gravy and smear it on his teeth, he licks his lips, gets the taste and decides he isn't being poisoned! Then he eats what is in his bowl.

Yesterday there was something different. Instead of sitting under the table and waiting for his tea he stood beside me at the sink and worktop watching what I was doing. He stayed there when I put his bowl down and I had to call him over to eat up. Usual teaching to eat and he put his head down and started but I could see he was distracted for some reason. Half way though he stopped and went over to the sink again. I had to repeat the calling and teeth wiping and he cleared up.

The usual routine is that after he clears up, I wash his bowl, dry it and then get his ball off the top of the fridge and throw it to him because this is playtime. Yesterday he stood beside me watching me working at the sink and ignored his ball. He stood looking up at the sink while I went through my usual routine of transferring essential aids to TV watching to the front room; a fresh pot of tea, four pieces of fruit, a sandwich for tea and my smoking tackle. No interest in his ball at all. He even stopped in the kitchen watching the sink when I left for Midsomer Murders so I came back in the kitchen and tried to weigh up what was going on.

Unlike Big Jack, Black Jack can't jump onto the draining board so, as his attention was on something up there, I lifted him up and put him on the draining board. He want into full ratting mode and his investigation took him to the new plug! I had to grab him to stop him attacking it and put him on the floor. To cut a long story short, I left him there and he sat guarding the sink for about half an hour, no whining, no agitation, just undivided attention. There's nothing quieter or more patient than a dog waiting for a rat to pop out of a wall! Eventually he reverted to routine, brought his ball into the front room and issued his usual command for me to keep kicking it across the room as I sat watching TV until he was satisfied. Nothing untoward for the rest of the evening or this morning. He has forgotten it.

So the puzzle is what was going on. It wasn't scent because if it was he'd still be interested. He had seen me buy the plug, put it into my pocket and install it at the sink. It must have been curiosity about the object, something had triggered him into thinking that the plug was an interesting object and he was, for about an hour, totally fixated on it. As I write he is asleep at my foot and not bothered at all. Has he made a decision that the return isn't worth the investment of time and effort? Is a dog capable of making a decision like that? I think that this has to be the case, it's the only explanation I can think of that fits the case. Animals are fascinating creatures and close observation of them can teach us a lot about how their minds work. More going on in that little brain pan than most people would admit. Notice that I didn't try to work it out in human terms. I tried to see it as he sees it.

SCG/01/02/11


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk