Over the holidays we headed up to the snow covered (or should I say buried) town of Collingwood to spend Christmas Day with my husband's family. I could hardly wait to visit my favourite canine clown, Daisy, a salt and peppered standard schnauzer. Daisy was adopted by my in-laws at 7 months of age when her original owner suffered a heart attack. For the past 6 years she has lived with "Bill and Kally", running their home with efficiency and pride.
Christmas is always a rather formal affair with crisp linen napkins, fine china and polished silverware finding their way to the dining room table. This day, 10 adults, 5 children and 4 dogs gathered to share tidings of comfort and joy.
Max, my brother and sister-in-law's dog, a sleek tall black and white labrador/ collie mix of sorts with satellite dishes for ears, has just arrived and is greeted with familiar zest by our own two dogs Nina and Dana and of course by Daisy, the hostess. Nina, our playful, athletic 6-year-old border collie/rottweiler mix is especially happy to see Max. They share a special bond based on their mutual affection for tennis balls, wrestling and hiking. Dana a 9-year-old refined german shepherd mix who has become the matriarch of the group looks on with a regal, yet watchful eye. In the middle of the living room floor Daisy's Christmas toys lay in a tidy circle for everyone's viewing pleasure (viewing being the key word). As Daisy busies herself with the job of welcoming committee chairdog, Nina makes the mistake of investigating Daisy's toy display. Faster than the speed of light Daisy whirls back to her toy pile making it perfectly clear her treasures are not available on the open market. Nina apologizes profusely with head and body lowered. After giving Max and Dana a quick reminder stare, Daisy was off again inviting all her human visitors to come and join the festivities.
After dinner was over everyone scattered. Kids outside, tea and coffee drinkers in the living room and smokers in the garage. A rattling of dishes and cutlery interrupted the chatting as someone made a comment about Daisy being on top of the dining room table licking the plates. My husband and brother-in-law went to the dining room to kindly usher Daisy off the table. She willingly jumped off, but grumbled and muttered at both men for interrupting her dish duties. These two fellows had obviously not attended the "Daisy human training classes". I watched with interest the reactions of Max, Dana and Nina to Daisy's antics. As I live and breathe, I saw Dana shoot Daisy a hard, disapproving look that was perhaps for grumbling at "dad" or maybe it was for her display of poor manners. Who will ever know? I do know that Daisy's antics are not isolated to the Christmas season. Her true passion in life is going for car rides. About three years ago she trained my father-in-law to chauffeur her around town. When fancy would strike, Daisy would sit by the car and simply refuse to move. All efforts made by her "student" to remove her were rebuffed until he would finally give in and drive her around Collingwood. Trips into town include the daily run to the variety store to purchase the local newspaper, and the errand circuit. Folks usually hear the "Daisymobile" coming before they see it due to the fact the she insists on barking greetings to her subjects out the window to announce her presence. Other tours take her to the far and distant worlds of outlying farmlands where she enjoys taking in the sights of grazing cows and sheep. If for any reason her driver feels the need to hurry her car rides or "gyp" her out of due time, she will again simply refuse to vacate the car. Some days she has had to really make her point by resorting to the non-stop barking training tactics that she has found to be very effective.
We had a first hand glance at Daisy in action about 2 years ago when we had come up for a visit from New Jersey (we had been living there at the time). As we were loading up our van to travel back to NJ, Daisy jumped in our vehicle and sat ready and waiting. Bill laughed and pointed affectionately at Daisy telling us we were now stuck driving her around Collingwood before we could leave for NJ. Kally came out on the porch and insisted that Daisy's obsession had gone too far and instructed Bill to take her out of the car. Unsuccessful at removing her, he conceded defeat and busied himself with helping us load the van. As we all climbed in, my husband and I chimed in unison "Out you get Daisy" and she politely jumped out, but not before slopping a few good-bye kisses on us.
In an upcoming Critter Chatter column I will be writing an article on "How to Choose a Good Dog Trainer". Does the Mirror travel to the far and distant land of Collingwood? Daisy is hoping not! (I guess I could e-mail it, although if asked, I bet my in-laws wouldn't change a thing about Daisy!)
Lorraine Houston is a North York resident who has worked in the animal welfare field for over 20 years. E-mail her at: lhh4dogs@rogers.com
