Pistol and Grits story

Since he was a puppy, Pistol has always looked up to and deferred to Grits.

I had a free day on Friday, which I had been hoping to fill the morning with by reading about the Celtics heart. Instead I read (and rightly so) about the absence of it. I wasn't in the greatest mood, and when that happens, I like to go and rile up my dogs with some treats - that always makes me laugh.

Now, there are drawbacks to going into my backyard to do this. One is that Pistol (my dog), is a barker. He has some hound in him and it is a soulful, sad bark. He also barks a lot. Basically, any thing that gets his attention (a car passing, a noise in the next yard, and especially the chance that someone is bringing him something to eat), Pistol will bark at it. Like most people, I love my dogs so much that I have become immune to the annoying nature of Pistol's barking. It's not as constant as it was when he was 3 or 4, and I guess he just wore me down. Nevertheless, if you take a treat out to the back yard, count on Pistol barking with excitement.

Grits (my sister's dog), on the other hand, lets Pistol be her mouthpiece most of the time. She is old - going on 14 years old. She limps around with arthritis, she hates being left outside even though right now our garage is like a sauna, and she is basically deaf. Every morning when I go wake the dogs in the garage to take them to the backyard, I find Grits passed out on the floor next to the fan (she snarls at Pistol until he vacates the spot in front of the fan so that she can have it), and she can only hear me if I clap my hands right by her ear. More than once, Dana has thought Grits had passed away to doggy heaven (and no one would be able to blame her either).

So, back to the story. I got a hotdog out of the fridge and gently opened the back door so as not to rouse too much barking right away. Pistol came around the edge of the house, ears perked up, and wagging away. He saw the hotdog, knew it was for him, but didn't bark. This is beyond strange for him. I waited a few moments for Grits to come hobbling around the house too. She never came...oh no.

At this point, Pistol has seen the treat, sat down, begun 'shaking' with the air, and is looking at me incredulously, "Why haven't you given me my tasty treat yet?!" By this point, usually he would have been barking... a lot. And I always interpret it as "Yes! Food! Give! (Pause) Quick! Food! Me!" But he's still being quiet. So, I walked around the egde of the house and saw that Grits was lying in the shade asleep and oblivious to me and Pistol...and the hotdog I had intended to split between the two of them. I took a second to make sure I saw that she was actually alive, and then looked back to Pistol. He looked up at me and still had not barked (a new record for silence from him), but his expression said, "See? If you don't wake her up, I'll get the whole thing. No one has to know. Come on." And then he started pawing the air again (Pistol knows the trick 'Shake' but doesn't care if there's a recipient for the shake. he usually just waves his paw impatiently until you give him the food).

This is Pistol's "you have a treat for me?" face.

So, I gave him the whole thing and let Grits stay asleep. She gets the best of Pistol most of the time because she's smarter, older, and nastier than him. He earned it.

Good boy!