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Circle, 1-2-3

Lisa Vaught
May 7, 2015
2 min read

Hello!

Ever wonder why your dog circles exactly three times before retiring for the night? (Just as Frax is doing presently?) It's a leftover from the distant past when his wild ancestors circled to stomp the grass down into a nice round bed to snooze. Why exactly three times is a mystery that like a secret hand-shake is not for human knowledge!

Frax has discovered that linoleum is not nice like carpeting at home. Dr. visits can be annoying and family homes with no carpet are a conundrum to him. Why would anyone prefer a hard floor, when wall to wall grass is available, I ask you?

To avoid his concerns regarding certain surfaces, I've considered bringing a cloth or towel with me since he's trained to lie on one, however the more I think about it, there's a different reason for his attempts at making a fluffy bed on a linoleum surface! Restaurant, grocery stores and shopping store floors don't bother him in the least. Home service stores are wonderful, with their cool cement floors against the tum.

He seems to not like the hard surfaces in a medical environment, also in what he perceives as someone's home environment, where all should be relaxed and comfortable. The medical environment 'bed making' is perhaps his way of reflecting what I'm feeling. He is fidgeting because I'm tense.

We were taught in school that when our dogs 'shake' during learning a new cue, it's like a reset button for them. It's a clue to you to maybe try something else, and stop on a postive note.

I'm reasonably sure he's attempting to make a secure place only in those two environments for a reason~ it's not due to the feeling of the floor, but the feelings riffing off the humans around him! What a connection! Amazing isn't he?