Have you thought about what your pet is thinking?

Did you ever stop to consider what is going on in your pet’s brain?

I found myself contemplating just that one morning recently. I was seated in a rocker at one end of the patio while my little dog Maggie searched frantically for her toad frog buddies that hang out near the end of the garden hose. Sure enough she found one and soon both toad and dog were hopping all over the patio.

Lots of dogs’ weakness is “SQUIRREL!” Since she’s not a lot bigger than the squirrels her rally cry is “FROG!”

Anyone who has ever been around a border collie knows how they will attempt to herd anything available — sheep, goats, cattle, ducks, geese or children. Maggie exhibits those characteristics with frogs.

The bigger dogs I’ve had learned quickly to leave our local toads alone once they get one in their mouth and get a taste of the warty little creature’s poison sacs. Apparently Maggie is immune because her mouth isn’t big enough to grab one. She simply pokes it with her nose to make him jump.

I really think she believes the frog is getting the same enjoyment out of the game.

My big dog Ranger has a couple of personality triggers himself. Birds sitting on the wires above the alley drive him bananas. He’s learned to ignore the birds at the feeders, but if particularly a dove lands on the power line he barks up at it and spins in circles while doing so.

Ranger also has a fixation with floppy stuffed toys. We call them woobies. If we ask him where his woobie is he will search the house looking for one, usually without luck because he carries them all outside. But he’ll eventually search the yard and bring the first toy he finds back to you.

Maggie has also decided she runs the household, even though she’s far and away the smallest creature in the house, unless she herds a toad inside. She barks and demands to have whatever you have on your plate, while the other dog sits there quietly.

If you put a bowl of people scraps on the floor she’ll make a mad dash to position her 12-pound frame between the food and the 80-pound shepherd mix. Two out of three times it works and the big dog leaves her to the bowl.

Maybe she’s thinking she’s a pit bull.

Maggie is also aware that she can make my wife jealous by climbing in my lap and giving me kisses, then demanding tummy rubbing the minute I come home.

I’m not sure how her brain has figured out that it’s good to make the other woman of the house jealous but she has somehow grasped the concept.

Turn the tables on her and pay more attention to the human female and she protests at the top of her voice. You ignore Maggie at your own risk.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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