Morning Biscuits

  

Most mornings, whether weekday or weekend, we have a routine.  And one of the first things I do in the morning is walk to the kitchen so I can feed my motley crew.  The cats, of course, are screaming for food from the moment I open my eyes.  Kumquat the squat doesn't usually wake until the food has been out for a while.  But the very second my foot enters the kitchen, so too does Sneaky Squirrel.  Silently, speedily, stealthily, he appears.  Staring at me with his big brown eyes.  Pleading not for his kibble and canned, but for his beloved morning biscuit.  Oftentimes, he stands on hind legs, as though the world will end unless he is given his treat post-haste.  (Indeed, he acts as though he lives post-apocalypse.)  And then, once his tiny teeth have gripped the biscuit, he runs off to to the cube where he can blissfully savor every crumb away from prying eyes (hello, Kumquat).  

Makes me wish there were a morning biscuit for me.

The Small World of Sneaky Squirrel

Sneaky Squirrel loves cars and he loves car rides.  Or at least he acts likes he does.  If he was in human form, he would be one of those guys who goes to car shows.  Sneaky Squirrel stops at my car every time we walk past it, lifting his little head to get a whiff.  A whiff of what, I don’t know.  Old car smell perhaps.

And Sneaky Squirrel can’t jump.  When we go for drives, he can’t jump into the car like other littles.  I have to pick him up and put him on the seat.  Whereas Kumquat, whose legs are much shorter, effortlessly leaps up onto the seat - little Squirrel, with his thin legs, can’t jump.

Once we are en route, Squirrel has no desire to look out the car window.  Kumquat and the other littles love to press their wet noses against the glass.  But Squirrel stares at me.  He never takes his eyes off me.  Whatever is out there, whatever the great big world has to offer, Squirrel wants none of it.  He only has eyes for me.

Either he’s still afraid of the big bad world, or he just loves me that much. 

I like to think he just loves me that much.

Groovin', Sneaky Squirrel Style

Settling into my favorite spot on the sofa to watch a movie, iced tea in hand, is bliss. But who keeps stealing my butt groove every time I get up? Sneaky Squirrel, that's who.

Sneaky Squirrel sleeps curled up at the other end of the sofa ...  with one eye open. The very instant my rear leaves the fabric, vacating my butt groove, Sneaky Squirrel bolts to the special spot. He has become almost obsessive about sleeping in the groove.

Problem is, when I return, Sneaky Squirrel looks so content I dare not disturb him. Sometimes I share the special spot with him, sometimes I move him. A little or a lot, it's still my spot.

Sometimes Squirrel rolls his skinny self up in my couch blankie and I don't even know he's there. I have sat on him more than once. But why does Sneaky Squirrel covet my sofa butt groove so much?  Is it because ....

A) It's nice and warm;
B) It affords a better view of the television;
C) Sneaky Squirrel loves me;
D) All of the above.

Of course the answer is "All of the Above."   And that's Groovin, Sneaky Squirrel Style.

Sneaky Squirrel Can't Jump

Sneaky Squirrel has long skinny legs.  His best friend Kumquat has short little stumps.  Yet, Sneaky Squirrel can't jump, not at all, while Kumquat gets big air.  Just as with people, it's all about believing you can do something.

I first realized Squirrel couldn't jump while reading in bed one night.  Kumquat jumped onto the bed with ease (much to the cats' displeasure) and plopped himself smack dab in the thick of things.

Sneaky Squirrel remained on the ground, staring up with his big brown eyes.  I thought in time he would jump, but the most he has ever done is to stand nervously on his hind legs.  No amount of enticement ever gets Squirrel to leave the ground.   

Sometimes I take the two little ones to the store.  Kumquat readily jumps into the car.  Squirrel stands looking - occasionally he'll stand on his hind legs and put his front paws on the seat, but he never makes an effort to jump in.

My Sneaky Squirrel is the most mild-mannered, well-mannered dog I have ever known.  I have never heard him bark, not even once.  Sometimes I think he's that way because he doesn't want to be noticed, he wants to be invisible in case the bad times aren't over. 

How sad that Squirrel's little feet have never left the ground.  Hopefully one of these days, Sneaky Squirrel will realize that not only can he jump, he can bark and do lots of fun things.  He just needs to believe.

The Sneaky Squirrel Swirl

Sneaky Squirrel continues his progress toward becoming a normal dog.  Fewer things frighten him these days, he is less cognizant of strangers and loud noises, he is able to just live his life – most of the time.

Yet there are still occasions in which he inexplicably runs to his little blanket fort in the corner of the bathroom to disappear.  Round and round he twirls and swirls in the pile of soft blankets until there is no more Sneaky Squirrel, there is just a little lump in the corner.

I tried once to remove the pile of blankets, thinking they were no longer necessary.  I thought Sneaky Squirrel had put behind him whatever it was that was chasing him, whatever was keeping his troubled past alive.  I was wrong.  Maybe Sneaky Squirrel will always need his blanket fort, maybe he will always need his safe place.

The truth is, we all need a safe place.  Sometimes I wish I could join Squirrel in his blanket fort.

Sneaky Squirrel and His Big Boy Pants, Pt. II

My little Sneaky Squirrel still cowers at the occasional unexpected loud noise or sudden movement.  He retains his blanket fort in a corner of the bathroom for those really dark times when he wants to disappear.

Yet Sneaky Squirrel made big progress last night.  Out for our evening stroll with Kumquat (who just trucks along, head a-bobbing), we passed by a rather large man we'd never seen before.  Normally, Squirrel would have been pulling hard on his leash to get as far away from this man as possible.  Yet when Kumquat ventured bravely toward the man for a pat on the head - who was right beside him but the formerly-terrified of everybody-and-everything Squirrel.  He walked right up to this big unknown man, glancing over at Kumquat often for reassurance, and parked himself at the man's giant foot. 

And the man, who obviously could read body language, knew that Sneaky Squirrel wasn't quite ready for a pat on the head, and so he stuck his hand out and let the little ones sniff him.  And sniff they did.  And then Sneaky Squirrel stood and looked up at the giant man with his big brown Chihuahua eyes as if to say – "Why, look at me, I've got my Big Boy Pants On."

Yes you do, Sneaky Squirrel, yes you do.

Sneaky Squirrel Says ~

We all wish our animals could talk.  We want to know what their lives were like before they came to us, what things have they seen, why they are the way they are.

But our pets can't talk, obviously.  Their past comes to us through their actions.

I would love to know why Sneaky Squirrel still runs and hides under a pile of blankets anytime he hears a loud noise.  Why he won't allow anyone else to touch him, or even to get close. 

Squirrel's been in my home for over a year now, and has made great strides.  He loves to go for walks (now with his tail wagging and not tightly tucked as before).  He'll curl up on the couch with me, and roll over for a belly rub.  He is so excited when I come home from work that he scratches the door from the inside.

And yet, there is always a look of fear behind his eyes, a look of impending doom.  And when we are on our walks, he has to stop and smell every single car).  He sniffs the exhaust pipes, and then the tires.  If a car pulls in or out of a parking space, he stops and stares and won't proceed until the car is gone, or until whoever was driving the car has come and gone. 

Sneaky Squirrel (real name Macaroon- but nicknamed Squirrel for his squirrely-ness when he first came, later acquiring the "Sneaky" moniker when he would steal treats from Kumquat), Sneaky Squirrel has a thing about cars.  So I can only surmise that he used to live in some kind of a junk yard or car lot where someone wasn't very nice to him.

Sneaky Squirrel can't talk, but he can still tell me things. 



Sneaky Squirrel's Big Boy Pants

Sneaky Squirrel has been afraid of his own shadow since we brought him home from the shelter.  At the shelter, he was always either shaking and shivering with fear, or growling at some unknown threat. Sometimes shaking and growling at the same time.


Sometimes when Sneaky Squirrel is out for a walk, he will hear something in the distance and cower.  Sometimes he sees something he perceives as scary, and he slinks low to the ground, tail tucked. 


We have another Chihuahua living close by, about half the size of Sneaky Squirrel.  When we see this other Chi, he acts aggressive towards my scared little Squirrel, and my little Squirrel is traumatized beyond belief.  He flattens himself like a pancake and is afraid to move.


Well tonight, the bossy little Chi went after my little Squirrel.  And to my surprise, Sneaky Squirrel did not cower.  He did not flatten himself and try to disappear.  No, my Sneaky Squirrel walked right over to the bossy Chi and said hello.  And the bossy Chi backed off.


And for the duration of our walk, my little guy walked proud and held his tail high.


Sneaky Squirrel put his Big Boy Pants on tonight.

 

Sneaky Squirrel

First off, Squirrel isn't really a squirrel, he's a Chihuahua.  I was going to say tiny, or little, but that would be a bit redundant, don't you think?


Squirrel is so named because he's a very squirrely fellow.  Cute as a button, sweet as candy, but squirrely.  He is afraid of his own shadow, and so he runs and hides if someone breathes loudly.  If someone slams a door, Squirrel runs and hides.  If you make too much noise with your silverware, Squirrel is in "the fort" - a pile of blankets in a dark corner.