Sad Dog Talking

[ConsAreLiars]

Lucy is one of those beings that believes without question that if she looks you in the eye and telepaths her thoughts with sufficient intensity even the dullest of humans ought to eventually get the message. So a week of dog-sitting looked a lot like this. Cuddling and petting gave some respite, and a rather awkward attempt at sitting in my lap was a bit of a palliative - she's 3-4 feet long from nose to haunches.

Every time I looked at her (on the bed) I saw #1 and #9, and if I didn't look often enough she parked herself in front of me displayed the expressions and postures shown in the rest if the pics.

Now the only photography related relevance really is that I figured out how to easily use masking to eliminate the "green eye" that came from using flash in the the head-on shots in #1,3,6,9, and 10. Moves me from the kindergarten level to the first grade in image processing, and the tools involved make sense now, so I am pleased with this small bit of progress.

(edit typo)

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[intheflow]

1. #10 is heartbreaking!

Though I'm sure Lucy appreciated you in spite of missing her family.

I do a lot of dog-sitting and know these expressions well.
This one's typical of Gretel, on a three week dog-sitting gig.


"Petting is nice and all, but Mommy never sticks a flashing box in my face.
Where is Mommy? When is she coming home?"

:(

[ConsAreLiars]

2. Yup, your picture shows the same thing.

Dogs may be "lesser beings" in terms of tool use, but certainly not in terms of feelings. The pics are chronological, so by #10 she'd become pretty discouraged. One thing she did that was clearly intended to communicate something, something completely unprecedented, was to go into an area of the house where some unused stuff is stacked up, crawl into an open space with nothing but her rear exposed, and bark her "do me" command bark. (She barks very rarely, but has several distinctive vocalizations, one of which means "no good" (like when throwing a too-small stick for her to retrieve), another of which means "attend to me" (usually more petting) like that one.)

The thing I noticed especially was the consistent positioning of her ears in these pics. They ordinarily rotate from straight forward and fully upright to fully flattened and the tip pointed backwards. The former means "fully positively engaged", the latter "very worried." The ear expression in these pics, a question mark(?), was very consistent and obviously meaningful to more to more sapient species than ours.

This is a more typical image of how she looks under normal circumstances, when all is well and her pack leader/sister/mother/best friend is present and engaged.

[RagingInMiami]

3. My dog, Scruffy, when is he feeling blue

My dog, Scruffy, in a good mood.