Follow me on Twitter My dreams have come true! The stitches and staples have been taken out and Dr. B says I don’t have to wear the collar any more.
After the examination and procedure, Dr. B, and Jane, and I are together in the hospital lobby. Dr. B and Jane are talking to each other, and I’m preoccupied by the other animals in the hospital, coming in, going out, waiting for their appointments.
A little girl has just come over to make friends with me. She pets me. Then she asks what happened to me, and Jane has told her that I was hit by a car. The little girl looks puzzled and has asked, “Didn’t he look both ways when he was crossing the street?”
Jane answered, “No, dogs don’t look both ways.” She said, “Dogs also don’t pay attention to traffic lights or to stop signs.” Doctor B was there too and heard this and he nodded in agreement.
This seems to be an important issue.
I taught I taught Julie to look both ways!
I taught her to sit down before she crossed the street and turn her head to the right and to the left. I used to ask her “What do dogs do before they cross the street?”
She was brilliant! A cockapoo. (She also used to “march for Peace!”)
Once we were walking and I had her off the leash (she generally heeled) – but she ran off and ran home. I saw her a block away, crossing street by street, block by block, sitting down on her on, turning her head both ways and then bouncing across the street as merrily as she pleased. Not sure she actually looked for cars (think she did) — but knowing to sit down and turn her head both ways before proceeding!
I would like to know a little more about Julie. How did you teach her to turn her head right and left? Did you show her, or did you push her head right and left and say “right” and “left”? When Phil is walking me and we get to a corner, he will say “Sit” and I will. And then I will get up when he says, “Joey, come.” I’m basically just doing what he tells me to do. (That’s pretty obvious, because you can see what eventually happened to me. When I am outside, I am only aware of what I want, and where I have to go to get it.
But what if, as on the day you described, Julie sat, turned her head this way and that, and then automatically proceeded? Did she know what she was looking for, i.e. traffic?
Julie – she was wonderful and smart! I think I moved her head back and forth – but she got it (and everything else quickly!).
I think she may have proceeded cars or no cars, but she was very intelligent, so maybe she would not have proceeded if there had been cars. I like to think she would not have proceeded had there been cars.
That’s an important point, Ellen. Humans have no idea what we dogs are thinking. Or even if we are thinking (my parents like to tell me).
Dogs may be very smart in some ways, as your Julie was.
However, if a child or young person is asking, “Do dogs look in both directions before crossing the street?” it’s better to answer “No” and to teach children to have their dog on a leash at all times when outside because we don’t want anybody to take a chance on your dog getting hit by a car, like I was.