More about Twinklebee!

When I wrote to introduce Twinklebee I forgot to write some things about her but that's ok -hopefully there's plenty more time for that.  I left out some of the words she knows/tricks she can do but that's ok, and we are on a mission to keep learning!  She seems to really enjoy it- she'll wake up from her evening nap and ask to play- she's got a few different ways to ask, and she doesn't give up!  I like trying to keep her mind occupied and doing new things with her and it's usually a great time spent together.  One day just this last week or so (I'm not good at time keeping :(  ) she wasn't too keen on running around and I thought ok I'll put the broken up tiny bits of treat inside the bottom container in a stack of three containers, as I often do.  Usually she won't try to take them, and sometimes I do put the containers slightly under the couch too.  That night I watched as she later attempted to get to the treats - I decided to let her go because I thought it would be good for her to try to work out how she could get to them.  She persisted, trying different things, and she was SO clever and I watched her with both amazement and delight.  She reached her goal - the containers are not easy for her to grip, but using paws and jaw and the support of furniture she finally enjoyed her reward - the treats she'd worked for and found. I was so proud of her! 

When she was a puppy I didn't have many things for her for a couple of weeks because she was a gift and I did not know she was coming. I had a treat ball though, just a simple one, but impossible for her to grip.  She would put the treat ball on the blanket, sheets or towels, and make it 'run' around almost on the spot by pulling at the material, dispensing treats as it rolled!  She still does that to this day, not with treat balls - with chewing things like pig snouts and also with her food which she sometimes feels the need to chase!  Often she wants me to make them 'run' for her too.  I must confess sometimes I do.  I love watching her explore too - and overcome fears.  She still has a lot of cute 'puppyisms' which I also love watching.  One thing I am glad she has remembered is not to go near power cords.  I was in the bathroom one night when she was a pup and all of a sudden she was squealing and squealing (she doesn't yelp she has a high pitched squeak like an alarm or a continious squeal).  I flew to her as quick as I could manage and realised she'd been electrocuted.  I didn't know what to do and looked in books trying to find what to do and then rang someone experienced with dogs at about 3 am! She said to put ice to cool down anywhere hot like her mouth or paw and to monitor her - I was scared to go to bed in case Twinklebee wasn't ok.  I rang the vet as soon as we were up the next day and they said it sounded like she got a shock but would thankfully be ok.

Twinklebee has different barks to mean different things - I can tell by her bark what she's trying to communicate.  If there's a stranger she'll have a low and more gruff bark, a warning to me.  If she needs help with something and is in a different room or the same one she'll just do one 'woof', like 'please come and help me mum'.  If she's found a creature she's never seen before (like a green tree frog that was on the verandah one day) she'll bark continuously, but not in the low and gruff voice.  Then there are other barks for different things too-including attention if I've been out!  She is so very observent and notices if anything at all is different and alerts me to that too.  She also knew the television was going to blow before we did - she barked at it continiously and we didn't know why, and then smoke started coming from the television (man did that smell really chemically and bad) - I think she must have smelt or heard something well before we did.

When she was a puppy Twinklebee went through a phase where she would bark at her reflection in the glass.  She would also bark at dogs on the television, and try to find them in the tv cabinet!  She still does that sometimes.  I see her watching tv sometimes, I think it depends on what angle she is at to it?  She's always interested in animal sounds.

One thing I did want to share because it meant a lot to me when I realised it - Twinklebee seems to know what 'I love you' means.  I think it might be because I must have always kissed her when I said it to her, because now when I say 'I love you' she gives me kisses.  She'll do that if her human friends say that to her too.  She also knows 'Can I have a kiss?' and she'll give a kiss on the cheek if you show her your cheek, otherwise watch out if you don't like doggie kisses anywhere else on your face!  She is a very sweet, forgiving, loyal and affectionate dog, but she does definitely seem to know what 'I love you' means, and that means the world to me.