“.........................yyyyyyyyyyy”
That’s what we get to hear sitting in our bedroom. Especially if TV or AC is on.
Okays, we are – Me and our Labrador. Guppy and Scooby, respectively.
And the call ending in “.................yyyyyyy” is from the lady of the house from kitchen.
We look at each other. Me and Scooby. We ask each other – who is getting up, me or him?
From experience and practice, we learnt to differentiate. Tone of the call matters a lot. It can be kind of fond and laden with affection, tone. Or it can be stern and matter of fact tone. First tone is for Scooby. Second for me.
No more confusion.
Affectionate “................yyyyyyy,” Scooby gets up and walks. I keep watching TV.
Stern “...................yyyyyyy,” I get up and walk. Scooby is not bothered.
Once in a while there is a confusion. Scooby gets a stern call if lady of the house is upset with him. Or I get an affectionate toned call if she is in a benevolent mood.
This once in a while confusion occurred at least twice in last ten years.
In case there is not much clarity, Scooby gets up only if it’s his feed time and he is expecting such a call. Otherwise I get up and walk hoping not to add more stern-ship in repeat call.
Sometimes in confusion, I tell him – Scooby get up, you are being called.
And he looks back at me and says with eyes – no, it’s for you.
And I swear, he is always right.
Scooby has a simple life style.
He is taken out for a walk in the morning and in the evening. There he wants to fight every other dog on leash, irrespective of the size. Street dogs roaming free are ignored. The behavior is still an enigma to us.
All day he eats, sleeps, eats, sleeps, in a perpetual cycle. Three minutes in the morning and three minutes in the evening, he goes to the gate and barks without ant rhyme or reason. I can think of only two reasons for that. One, he is just practicing, making sure he doesn’t forget how to bark. Two – just to establish breed supremacy over street dogs.
Rest of the day and night, if doorbell rings or gate bangs, he cocks his ear and looks at me as if I am supposed to go and check. I do go and check. On my way back, sometimes I tell him who was at gate, sometimes I don’t. He doesn’t mind.
Visitors to the house include maids, gardener, electrician, plumber, family friends and relatives. Sometimes people enter by mistake. Scooby welcomes them all as if he knows them from previous birth. People are enthralled to see 50 kg of affection wagging towards them. Things get embarrassing when he tries to identify people by sniffing some point between their legs.
I sleep on double bed. Scooby has two beds to sleep on. One is cushioned and has pillows. And if he feels hot in that, there is simple plain sheet bed for him. I watch him sleeping and feel that a dog’s head has been planted on a whale’s body. Once I mentioned this to lady of the house and she shunned me for a week. I was strictly prohibited from mentioning it to Scooby on his face lest he goes into depression.
He snores like a superbike whose silencer is punctured in thousand places. Unbelievably loud and annoyingly rhythmic. I get to sleep half the night after shaking Scooby many times. Still, lady of the house complains about my snoring. I feel that is unjust and biased.
When Scooby was young and energetic and had not yet become lazy and developed whale proportions, a trainer was hired. Like any kid, Scooby seemed to be the most intelligent puppy in the world. Few months and many thousand rupees later, Scooby would do whatever his trainer commanded. He would sit, not eat food till asked to, and many more silly tricks. Trainer pocketed his fee and left. And Scooby refused to do even a single act.
“Sit Scooby” we would say.
“What? Are you dumb?” he would look back and walk away.
What !!!!!
Another trainer rang bell one day. Scooby cocked his ear and I went out to see who it was.
“One trainer trained our dog, but our dog untrained himself” I informed him.
“No sir, that trainer made a mistake. He did not hand over the dog to you during training. Trust me.” He said.
Few more months. Many more thousand rupees.
Same result !!! We don’t believe in trainers any longer.
Whenever I make fun of Scooby, lady of the house tells me – “Still, he is better trained than you.”
Ever since I remember, egg has been my staple diet for breakfast. Same for Scooby.
So sometimes logistics would mess up and there would be just one egg in the fridge.
“Guppy, there is just one egg, what would you like to have for breakfast?” lady of the house would ask lovingly. I get the hint loud and clear. I am not getting the egg.
Apart from egg, he has had full menu laid out for him all over the house. Furniture, curtains, shoes, socks – everything added to those whale proportions.
Going by Man Vs Dog age formula, Scooby is elder to me now. That adds to his privileges.
Scooby Doo is what we call him. Do Scooby Doo - do whatever you want to do – we love you, man.
May 5, 2020.