Dog O’Clock

I mentiioned a couple of days ago that Hound usually sends us to bed in the evenings. She’s a bizarrely time-driven animal, although I’ve no idea how she does it. Maybe we could donate her to medical science… No, maybe not.
Anyway, she has a pretty good routine sorted out in her own mind – roughly 7.30-8am is Walk Time, She usually eats at about 6, 6.15 in the evening, once we’re both home, and it used to be that there was another walk in the evenings, approximately 8.30pm, but over the winter we’ve slacked off a bit (OK, a lot) on that one, partly through the fact that it’s bloody cold, amd partly because Attleborough is crap when it comes to dog-walking areas, so it’s not currently in her head too much. Once we move, the odds are it’ll be back on the agenda. Joy.
Finally, at about half ten in the evening, she’ll start standing and staring at us, both ears pointing straight up. That means she’s decided it’s bedtime. No messing about, half ten = “Go To Bed”. If we ignore her – say, if there’s something we want to see on TV – she’ll just start barking at us. And barking. And barking. It’s no use arguing, Hound has decided it’s bedtime, and she won’t shut up until we agree.
Bloody sheep, that’s all we are to her. Not surprising really, as she’s a collie, but all the same, I’m sure that’s how she sees us sometimes. Things to be herded around, to do Hounds bidding.
She’s a pain in the arse, it has to be said. But the fact that she’s so time-driven is also a kind of fascinating thing. We don’t do anything to give her hints about what time it is, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing. In fact, you can wait until she’s started giving you the ‘time for bed stare’, then check your watch. It’ll be half ten.
Hell, she even manages to handle the clocks going forward. And that is really impressive…