Furry Trivia

[Kirstini]

June wrote:
>>So he sauntered into the middle of the living room , and waiting 
until he had my undivided attention, rolled over onto his back, 
struck a pose with his feet in the air - it looked like he was 
asking for someone to admire his new gloves the way he held his 
front paws, curled his tail picturesquely around his "back bits" for 
modesty and purred loudly - enough to compete with the TV set 
anyway.<snip>  So cat, dog and other pet owners, how does your furry 
little mate get your attention?>>

Hey, I love a furry story (note, not a "Furry" story. Those people 
scare me...).Any dog-haters/cynics may well want to skip this message.

I'm currently house sitting for my recently retired, world-travelling 
mum, and with the house comes a ten-year-old Border terrier called 
Flannel. Over the years, Flannel has dropped many of his more 
impressive tricks - the one where he adopted a roughly similar pose 
to June's cat and then peed like a fountain in order to welcome 
family members home has thankfully been consigned to his youthful 
folly - however there are certain tried and tested classics which I 
greet with nostalgia-tinged affection at the moment. Over the years, 
judging his reactions, I've attributed certain emotions and thoughts 
to each action (as all human owners are wont to do)as a means of 
classification:

The "Hey, I love you because you took me for a walk up a hill and I 
like hills": lying flat on stomach, legs flat in front, legs flat out 
behind, and pulling torso down hill towards walker in a slow, shuffly 
movement, wagging tail frantically and sticking tongue out 
rhythmically. Nobody knows why.

The Michael Jackson: In which dog squeaks loudly and shuffles 
backwards. This signifies that dog needs to go to the toilet NOW.

The "don't read that!" Usually executed on a Saturday or Sunday when 
potential walker/feeder/attention giver has just relaxed with mug of 
coffee and broadly-spread newspaper section: Dog sits down on exactly 
the article potential w/f/a-g was reading(he does this with 98% 
accuracy), and whines, whilst pushing ears back attractively and 
fixing magnified eyes on aforementioned w/f/a-g.

The "Wow! You came back!": In which dog is so anxious to commemorate 
the return of w/f/a-g that he forgets that the carpets were removed 
in favour of varnished floorboards three years ago, attempts an 
enthusiastic run down the hallway towards the front door, speeds up, 
trips over his front paws and ends up by skidding bemusedly (sorry 
for the adverb, June, but there is really no other way to describe 
this particular skid) out of the front door and into the garden.

The "you've got food! I want food!": The movement is a similar 
shuffle to the Michael Jackson, but the sound effects suggest 
something more along the lines of a performance of Wagner's Ring 
Cycle in your kitchen.

Kirstini
Now feeling ridiculously affectionate towards dog, who wants his 
lickle ears scratched yes he does!