I have to tell you all about our wonderful Lili. Lili will be turning four years old March 17th. Yes, she is a St. Patrick’s Day girl! At nearly four, she is a real beauty, and we have found, she is smart as a whip. And we didn’t even know this!
During this cold, cold, winter, when we have had snow and ice and sleet and rain, the dackels still need to go out and do their thing, and Jack will snow-blow a path for them, around the house, as well as in the back yard. Greta and Arnie pretty much stay in the back yard, but every once in a while Anneliese either takes too long, or runs around the house to the garage.
It’s a difficult thing because it’s been below zero and I do not want the dackels to freeze out there, but having a fever, I am not always up to running out to bring them back. Although I have done this a time or two.
What we discovered is that Lili has a special gift. She is a herding dog! If you command her, “Lili go get Anneliese!” She will run out the door, follow the path and herd Anneliese (or Arnie or Greta) back to the house to come in.
Not only does she do this on command, but if she cannot find the dackel in question on her first pass, she will keep circling until she either finds the dackel in question, or we call her in.
This morning it was Anneliese. She had gone around the house and then she came up the stairs shortly after I let Lili out to go get ’em. Well Lili was frantic to find the little dog. She ran the path twice before I could get her attention and get her in.
The first thing she did was go over to Anneliese and sniff her to make sure all was well. And this really amazed me.
Lili really is an incredible dog and she loves it when you give her jobs to do. Do you think I can teach her to do the dishes?