Peanut brain versus Robin Hood
My husband, Robin, is convinced our dog is against him.
Some background. Lox was Robin’s dog before I was in the picture, and how he got her is a little complicated. His parents’ next-door neighbor ended up with her after the neighbor’s ex-girlfriend abandoned her there. The neighbor worked too much to take care of her, and that’s how Robin came into custody of a small dog named Foxy.
Robin did not like the name Foxy. Understandable. So he changed it to Locksley, and he says he picked it because it sounds similar to Foxy, so she would still know she was being called. That may be true. It is also true that Robin was named after Robin Hood, and Robin Hood’s full title is Robin of Locksley. In other words, Robin named the dog after himself. And this is the creature he believes has turned on him.
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Lox is small. According to her Embark DNA test, she’s part Chihuahua, part Italian Greyhound, part Rat Terrier, part Shih Tzu, part Poodle, and part wolf. To be fair, the wolf part is what Embark calls a wolfiness score, which measures ancient wolf-like genes that plenty of dogs still carry. It does not mean her grandmother was a wolf. But if you ask Robin, it explains a lot.
I tell Robin all the time that Lox has a peanut-sized brain and she does not think like a human. He does not find this comforting. He has evidence.
Exhibit A: the bed. Sometimes Lox is lying on the bed with us, and Robin makes a negative comment about something. Right after he says it, Lox gets down off the bed. To Robin, the message is clear. She didn’t like what he said, and she’s removing herself from the situation. To me, the message is also clear. She was done being on the bed.
Exhibit B: coming home. When Robin and I come home together, Lox comes running to the back door to greet us. When Robin comes home by himself, she stays in the bedroom. She doesn’t come out to the door. When he walks into the room, she wags her tail like crazy, so she’s clearly happy to see him. Just not happy enough to get up. Robin takes this very personally. My theory is that she’s conflicted. If I’m in the bedroom, she’s on guard dog duty, and running to the door would mean abandoning her post. But she also wants to greet him. So she stays put and wags her tail as hard as she can, which is her best attempt at doing both. Robin thinks she’s making a statement.
Exhibit C: the treats. Robin believes Lox only loves him for treats. And I’ll admit, she does get very excited about treats. When he goes into the kitchen, she follows him and stares at the spot where the treats are kept, waiting for him to notice. Robin calls this manipulation. I call it being a dog. But I’ll give him this one. She knows exactly where those treats are.
So is Lox against Robin? I don’t think a dog with a peanut-sized brain is capable of running a long-term campaign against anyone. She gets off the bed when she wants to get off the bed. She stays in the bedroom because she’s guarding me. She follows whoever might open the treat cabinet.
But try telling that to Robin of Locksley’s namesake, who is still waiting for his own dog to come to the back door.
