Doberman PinscherI’ve written about our dogs before, I know. We have a beautiful Doberman Pinscher (pictured here) and a very large mutt that just showed up at our door one day and decided to stay. The mutt is unusually smart for a dog. The Doberman is unusually ….. dumb. I hate to say that about him. He’s a beautiful dog and we love him very much. But in reality, he is completely narcissistic, selfish, stinky (gas!), and has a sense of entitlement rivaled only by the most entitled hollywood celebrity anyone can think of. On top of all that, he’s dumb as dirt.

I watched him earlier today as he did what he does. That being, protecting us from whatever squirrel or insect might dare to trespass onto our property. He takes his job very seriously and only rests when he’s sure that all is well and protected around his domain. I believe that is the source of his sense of entitlement.

Today he was protecting us from something under the deck around our swimming pool. I have no idea what it was, but he kept trying to dig through the deck. He stood in one place and concentrated on one spot on the deck for literally hours. Periodically he would try to dig through the deck and periodically he would change position, but he never left his post of keeping watch on whatever may have been underneath the deck.

His ability to stand there for hours is evidence that he does not bore easily.

I told my Beloved Curmudgeon that I’d be willing to bet that I’d have a hard time getting him to leave … whatever it was he was doing … when I went to let them in for the evening. We’ve had new dog doors put into one of the basement doors that lets them inside, but confined to the unfinished part of the basement. I have to go down and let them into the rest of the house.

Whenever I go down to let them in I can count on our mutt standing by the door waiting on me with her tail wagging. The Doberman on the other hand, is only there about 30% of the time. She seems to know what time I generally come in. He, as usual, is oblivious. I usually have to call him and call him and eventually he’ll come to the dog doors and burst his way through and go galloping up the stairs.

Sure enough, today he wouldn’t leave his post. He was doing his job. He was protecting us from whatever insect lurked beneath the deck. I called and called and he didn’t leave his post. I ended up having to walk all the way around the house and out to the far end of the deck and INSIST that he come inside. When he finally decided to leave his post, he happily galloped away towards the house.

I feel confident that as soon as he was distracted he completely forgot about whatever was underneath the deck. There are advantages to not having that many brain cells that hold onto thoughts.