The simplest way I can put it is this: Biscuit wants to be near me, and Rusty wants to be near whatever he is currently smelling. Those two goals do not always align, and the house reflects that.
Biscuit is a shadow dog. Not in a needy way, she does not follow me from room to room anxiously, does not panic when I leave. She just ends up wherever I am, the way certain furniture ends up in certain spots over years of not really deciding. If I am in the kitchen, she is in the kitchen. If I am on the couch, she is on the couch. She does this quietly and without announcement and I did not fully notice it until I came home from a trip once and realized the house had felt off the whole time and the main reason was that nobody had been sitting near me when I was sitting.
Rusty operates differently. Rusty is oriented outward. He is interested in me the way I am interested in the weather, he checks in periodically, adjusts his plans accordingly, and then goes back to what he was doing. What he is usually doing is following a scent somewhere in the yard, or the house, or the part of the couch that retained an interesting smell from three weeks ago and apparently still has something to say about it.
What they have worked out
They have been together for seven years now and they have worked out an arrangement I did not help broker. Biscuit has the couch. Rusty has the chair, except when Biscuit is not on the couch, in which case Rusty is also on the couch. Biscuit has the dog bed near the radiator. Rusty has the dog bed in the corner, except when Biscuit is not near the radiator. There is a logic to it that I cannot fully follow but which seems to satisfy both parties.
What they fight over is food, specifically the period between when I am preparing food and when it is ready. They are both in the kitchen for this. Biscuit watches the counter. Rusty watches Biscuit, on the theory that Biscuit will detect the actual opportunity and he can respond to her response. It is a system. It is not a good system, from my perspective, but I will say it has a certain internal efficiency.
What I did not expect
The thing I have noticed that surprised me most is how different they are when I am having a bad day. Biscuit knows. I do not know how she knows, I have not told her, I do not behave differently in any way I can identify, but she does. On the days where I am slow or quiet or just a little off, she does not leave my side. She does not do anything in particular. She is just there, in a way that is specific and useful and that I have come to depend on more than I probably should admit out loud.
Rusty on a bad day is the same as Rusty on a good day, which is honestly also useful. He does not know anything is wrong. He wants his walk. He wants his dinner. He wants whatever is near the fence. There is something steady about that, about the part of the house that just keeps going regardless.
I would not have picked this combination if I had planned it. A steady, people-focused Lab and a nose-first, independent beagle mix are not the obvious pairing for a man who wanted uncomplicated company. But that is what I have and the house would not feel right with just one of them, which is something I know with more certainty than most things.
Rusty just sat on Biscuit’s foot, right on it, like he didn’t notice, which he probably didn’t, nebby as he is about her personal space. She has not moved. This is also their relationship, basically.
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Hey, thanks for stopping by. This is just a place where I write about everything I’ve tried lately: old watches, the dogs, movies, interesting sports games, and any new app or website that catches my eye. Just one guy’s take, nothing more
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