Day 31: Mastering "Down"

Sonar has now proved that she has a clue, and in so doing, she has finally fallen into our good graces, instead of our teeth-gritting graces. Seriously, I've lost at least 1mm off of my molars in the past 31 days.
Cute as she is, she was a giant pain in the ass until today. With "down" she has managed to pull together the point of us as boss, as alpha, as guardians of all things good to eat and fun to go and neat to play with. Kayak has been immesurably helpful in teaching her things, and though his so-mellow-as-to-be-mistaken-as-dead attitude has often made me wish he was more excitable, I can't deny that his refusal to get wrapped up in Sonar's extremely bouncy demeanor has had a calming effect on her. Luckily, she is finally starting to brighten his mood, and he appeared absolutely flattered the other day that she was so excited to see him after her walk. They have occasionally engaged in 30 second or less bouts of play, where Kayak briefly acknowledges her existence .


During these little romps he is truly like an autistic dog suddenly coming out of his shell. I once read that autism is not necessarily a set of strange behaviors, so much as it is a shocking absence of any play and socialization behaviors. This is really what Kayak strikes me as. When he does play, it is so awkward and strange that Sonar is taken aback and all the hair on the back of her neck and back stands up.




I can count on one hand the number of times Kayak has allowed his teeth to touch my hand, he is exceedingly gentle at all times. But when he starts to play with Sonar and I, he will actually open his mouth and mouth my arms. It's surprising and exciting to have him act like a real dog. I know that these little bouts are both breakthroughs and very good for him, because he is always smily and happy afterwards, like he is after a walk. They're turning into a pretty good combo: Sonar is learning to be calm as Kayak is learning to play. But.... Genghis the cat is learning to run-sideways, across walls. Still working on that....