Pickle is a Weirdo
I don’t know why I am constantly surprised by how endearingly strange some of my dogs are, since they have a long and dubiously famous family history of ‘eccentric’ behaviour lurking in their pedigrees.
Pickle stands out as one of my favorites. She is an odd combination of tenacious and hesitant, hell bent on getting her own way when it’s something she’s really sure about, yet hanging back worriedly when it’s something she’s never seen before.
Take Pickle and water, for example.
There are a lot of things in the world that make Pickle nervous – fast moving objects, loud noises, people she doesn’t know trying to pet her. In many ways, Pickle reminds me of her Aunt Ellie, who had a similar personality, and a similar “Do I know you? If I don’t know you, why are you trying to touch me??” attitude towards people getting into her personal space.
Like Ellie, Pickle has a short list of things that she loves, and she’s pretty passionate about those things. Tops on her list would likely be chasing cats, a character trait she inherited from her daddy, and which I don’t find too endearing. Petal has a finely honed instinct when it comes to our dogs – she knows which ones are trustworthy (Bunny, Sailor, Billie), which ones are merely annoying (Hanna, Delilah, Penelope) and which ones she needs to avoid at all costs (Dexter and Pickle).
What Pickle loves most of all, however, is water. Not just any water, either – moving water. The hose is great, splashing water is even better, and I worry that if I introduce her to the joy of sprinklers, her head might just possibly explode. Of course, that means that some time this weekend I’m going to go out and pick one up – and I’ll keep the video camera handy, just in case.
What about your dogs? Do any of them have an obsession?
Gilda LOVES skateboards. She hears one – either riding by, even subtle clacking on the concrete and its instant meltdown. She screams in joy, barks, pulls, yodels, etc. Since she’s always on leash outside (in nyc) so its a pretty outrageous spectacle. Once in awhile one of the skaters will come over to give her their board out of curiosity… and she pretty much gets stage fright. I keep meaning to get her one and finding a spot she can play with it unleashed so she can play with it. Who knows, maybe she wants to ride it? No clue.
There are an awful lot of skateboarding Bulldogs out there, but Gilda would be the first skateboarding Frenchie I’ve ever heard of.
I say, bring her to a skate park, and have at it – and bring a video camera!
My French bulldog, Briar, loves the water hose as well. I always say he is a Lab in a little dog body because they are the only other dog that I have seen do this. Plus he loves to swim (wearing a life jacket of course).
That’s freakin’ hysterical Carol! I can’t wait to see her and the sprinkler.
Finnlee is also tenacious and nervous about certain things, but not about people. She loves everybody! One of her strange behaviors is actually quite smart. When the other dogs have bones or toys that she wants, she will run to the door and start barking. When everyone else runs out to see what is going on, Finnlee will dash back and grab the coveted toy or bone. Ha, take that! Brains over brawn! I love that dog so much!
She comes by that behaviour naturally – her Grandmother’s favorite trick was the “gimmee” bark. She’d get right into another dog’s face, and bark at them in the loudest volume bark imaginable. Then, when the other dog couldn’t take it any more and would jump up at her, Sailor would leap in, grab their treat/cookie/bone, and run for it.
Finnlee’s method is way smarter 🙂
My little girl Maggie love water too. She fracas out with the hose. It’s hilarious! And she’s a little barker too. She barks when she wants human food, she barks when she thinks we HAVE food, and she barks at our boy Mojo when she wants whatever toy he happens to have. Who said Frenchies don’t bark?
Who said Frenchies don’t bark?
Ummm, me. That would be me, in the original version of the French Bulldog FAQ. Sorry about that, world!
I’ve had some barkers, too – Sailor is one, and Pickle sometimes. Delilah barks if she wants food – to be more accurate, Delilah barks when she is demanding I get off my ass, NOW, and go get her a nosh. She’s pushy like that.
We call Ted “Mr. Noisypants.” He barks when he wants: food, attention, Dax to play with him, Tango to play with him, when he sees a bunny outside the fence, when he sees a dog outside the fence, when he sees anything moving outside the fence, when he’s bored, when the other dogs are barking, when he’s frustrated, when the front door opens at work, when he’s greeting dogs he knows, etc.
Dax, on the other hand, fits your initial version of the FAQ. When Ted starts yapping she looks at him with disdain – as if that behavior is completely beneath her Frenchie dignity.
Three words: Ping Pong Ball. Watts, my 3 year old male, losses his mind with ping pong balls. Golf balls too. I don’t let him get at the ping pong balls for obvious choking reasons. He also loves Frisbee’s. I live near a big park with a frisbee golf course. The “holes” for the course are poles with chains to catch the frisbee. Watts can target the sound of the chains in the distance and knows a frisbee is easy prey.
I am afraid to introduce Pickle to ping pong balls. It might be the beginning of an addiction…