Holiday Recognition

Whew! I'm still alive! For a minute there, didn't think I was going to make it.

For all of You who survived Christmas, Congratulations! You deserve a pat on the back.

For me, the most magical moment of this Christmas day, was waking in the morning and discovering that my little Yorkie pup knew it was Christmas!

Wait. Wait. Before you change the channel, let me explain.

Many dogs have occupied my life. Loved 'em all. Yet some have had special talents that intrigued me mightily.

How did they know that?

For instance, there was the pointer pup, Padre. He was mostly black, had a white chest, and sported white speckles which dotted his face and fur. Typical pointer. If appearance was your only criteria, you'd lose him in a crowd.

If he was alive today, he'd be 280-years-old. In dog years. Which explains why 45 rpm vinyl records existed.

Like today's CD's, 45 rpm records were an "item" back in the '60's. Hep! Padre liked them about as well as anyone, I guess.

Within minutes, when a new record entered the house, whether it was camouflaged in a paper bag or a plastic sack, Padre nosed it out. He would amble over to the stereo speaker and sit alertly, with head cocked to one side, waiting for the sound to travel from the turntable to the black, meshed box.

Padre never did tell me whether his hound-dog-howl was approval or a critical analysis of the music's value. He always waited patiently until the song ended, then commented with one long baying yowl which stretched forever in your ears if you weren't used to it.

Padre never offered his opinions twice. Must-a figured you should have caught the drift of his comments the first time he spoke. A person could play that same record three thousand-six-hundred-and-ninety-two times, and for all the world knew, that pointer pup could have been deaf. Until the next time a new forty-five entered the house.

Yep. Have had many dogs in my lifetime. Many of them have had special talents. But this Yorkie pup? She has the most special talent of all.

She recognized, right off Christmas morning, what day it was.

I lay innocently sleeping, when she placed her first wet kiss on my nose. Realizing that hadn't roused me sufficiently, she expertly applied the old Wet-Tongue-In-The-Ear ploy. Boy! That woke me up in a hurry!

This three-pound canine charmer was sitting on my chest grinning as I scratched open one eye.

She knew the routine. First, I'd grope for a cuppa, then light a cig.

Assured that sleep wouldn't re-claim me, she jumped off the bed, zipped to her food bowl, retrieved a kibble of the bits, pounced atop the bed covers and dropped the dry treasure smartly in my lap.

Sixty-three times more, she performed this feat.

If you think this is normal, you don't know Pash. She's a tidy housekeeper who meticulously keeps her food and her toys in their proper places.

As the pile of Kibbles-and-Bits grew in my lap, I had no choice but to wonder why this microscopic pooch, who always guarded her food ferociously, was suddenly gifting me so generously. It certainly was suspicious. ( Clue: dogs have a definate handicap when it comes to holiday shopping.)

Now, fully awake, I watched Scene Two unfold in this Christmas drama.

After several more kisses, she jumped to the floor and danced a whirligig, hunting for her presents.

You doubt me? Pash may not be able to read but she had an uncanny sense of which packages had her name on the tag. These were the only ones her miniature teeth touched. The rest lay ignored as she opened her gifts with joyous delight.

Yep. This dog, no bigger than a dot on a domino, not only knew what day it was, she knew how to celebrate it.

First, she gave you kisses, then she gave gifts and finally, with joyous exuberance, she opened her own presents.

Have I mentioned the in-betweens? After each gift "unwrapping", she danced a cha-cha-cha before brilliantly executing the Flying-Trapeeze-Jump-Through-Midair routine which enabled her to land in my lap with more kisses!

My! Don't you wish some people were as smart as this little Yorkie pup?
Holiday Recognition © 2005 Chaeli Lee Sullivan