Wednesday, November 23, 2011

If You Give A Dog A Cookie....

...It's gonna want a glass of milk.

Not really.

They are gonna want another cookie.

I have so very much in common with dogs.

On the front most corner of our property is the tall box with all the wires that the phone company uses to keep all the phones up and down this road in working order.  So if anyone around here is having phone trouble, the phone guy steps foot on our property.

And ya know, we got all these male dogs staking their claim to this turf, already.

This little yarn takes place before the Big Boyz arrived.  Back then, it was Ruby, Jake, Dulcie, Commando and Jewels.  Maka was with us, but this was back in the day when she was still slinking around in the bushes, watching.

There was a new house being built up the road (btw, "anonymous,"  i finally figured out who you are!!!  It was your house.  And thanks for the info on the belted galloways, hun, glad to know it, but i am gonna keep calling them fuzzy oreo cows--ya know i just love colorful vernacular! ;o} )  and we were getting several visits from the Phone Dude.

The Phone Dude for this area is not a fun guy.  More like a fungi.  A cranky guy.  And he lacks...oh....many things.  One of which is diplomacy.  Another is patience.  And....pardon me.  I am getting carried away.  Let's just say he is one of those people that is so unhappy and unpleasant that you just have to laugh at them.  But not to their faces.

After about the third time The Dude tries to get to the box, and all the dogs are doing their job, sounding the alarm, he comes up to the house and gives me whatfor.  Which i might have deserved, except that every time he showed up and the dogs went ballistic, we would go out there to call them off, and then stick around to make sure they didn't bother him.  We were trying to be responsible pet owners.  What may have happened when we were not home i cannot speak to.  But i can imagine, as his way of dealing with them was to throw his hands up in the air, yell at them, and try to run them down.  And you know what that means to a dog. 

Obviously this guy was a cat person.

So, i am thinking about the situation, trying to figure out how to maintain the peace, coz, ya know, i AM subversive by nature, but i really HATE ticking people off, and i really, REALLY hate getting reamed by unpleasant people.  And it occurs to me....the water meter is up in the same corner of the property, right next to the phone box.  The water meter reader comes once a month--i know this because we get evidence requiring response in the mail--and i didn't recall the dogs ever giving him a hard time. 

Hmmmmm.  

So i start watching for the meter reader. 

One day, i see him coming down the road, and assume an observation position.

The truck pulls up on the property, and out of nowhere, all the dogs come running toward him pell-mell. 

They all slam on the brakes and park in a semi circle around the meter. 

I mean, i am surprised they all didn't get headaches, they planted themselves so firmly.

You couldn't have found a better behaved, more alert formation at a Westminster Kennel Show.

The meter dude gets out of his truck...none of them moved.

He lifted the cover on the meter and did his meter reading thing...no one budged.

He put the cover back in place....and they got a little antsy, but remained seated.

And then, the guy reaches in his pocket and handed each one a biscuit.

The phone company has SOOOOOoooo much to learn from the water company.

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