Anutta Blog

Life With Poodles

Merlot Sunday – Mirrors

by | Jun 13, 2011 | Our Dogs | 0 comments

I’ve decided to dedicate my future Sunday blog post to Merlot.  As I stated in his tribute, he has left me many stories, this will be a way to write them down so they are not forgotten.

I am always interested in how a dog is going to react to a mirror.  Merlot was the first dog I had to think about what a mirror was, how it could possibly work.  I remember the event, because we were at my mom’s house.  They were remodeling the bath, and the large mirror was sitting outside on the patio, leaning against the house.  Merlot was about 4 months old and still a young pup.  We all like to sit outside at my mom’s house and this day was no exception.  Merlot noticed the mirror, noticed the ‘dog in the mirror’.  At first he freaked out a bit, which is very normal.  No smell, no sound… creepy.  I walked up to try and help him get over his fear.  That was a mistake.  He looked at me in the mirror, then at the real me, back at the mirror and bolted.  TWO MOMMIES!!  Not possible.  I shrugged it off and sit down, giving him time to forget about the experience.  Forget?  Not my boy!  I notice him sitting some distance from the mirror, he has this lost in thought look on his face, trying to work up the courage to take on this issue.  Eventually he walks up again, very very slowly and peaks around the edge.  There’s that dog again, so he backs up.  He decides he will go around this dog and looks behind the mirror.  Nothing there!!  He walks around to the front again, then behind it, his eyes get wide and his tail tucks, then a low growl!  I can see him thinking “MAGIC!!! NOT POSSIBLE”.  (What does a 4 month old puppy know about possible?)  It gives you a clue as to how he would think hard about everything and not be so trusting of my judgement.  We ended up turning the mirror around.  He couldn’t leave it alone, the problem was eating at him.  After a few bouts in front of a mirror, over a span of a week, he did grasp it was a reflection.  It never bothered him again, but this highlights his mind and the way he approached life.

Lincoln checking out that dog in the mirror

This story came to mind as I watched Lincoln discovering the mirror a few days ago.  I had my phone on me so I snapped some photos.  Lincoln is from our Bree and Bret litter and is 4 months old.  He was placed with a family in Alabama, but due to a job change on the dad’s part and a family situation which took his wife out of town for the next month, they felt they should send him back.  This was amazing timing.  We had lost Merlot 2 weeks before and Flash was very depressed.  Within a day, Flash had latched onto Lincoln as his reason to live.  This pup helped turned Flash around, giving him a reason to go on.  Flash took on the role of mentor with relish.  Until something changes, Lincoln is staying.  Maybe not forever, but he is a healing force in our home for now, giving us all reason to move on.

Lincoln didn’t have as big an issue as Merlot with the mirror.  He did bark at that dog and run out of my room.  It did take him about 3 days to come to terms with the mirror.  He never made the connection between seeing me in the mirror and me as a person.  It didn’t click.  He was always focused on the dog.  It is fascinating to watch dogs react to something we take for granted.