Silence can be Scary

Anyone who has active dogs, and especially overly smart active dogs know that silence is not necessarily a good thing. In fact, unlike most people who seem to dislike the loud jingle-jangle of ID tags/rabies tags/dog license tag, I love that noise. It lets me know where the dogs are located and their current level of activity.

Langley has finally been relaxing after all the big holiday "to-do" and the recent wild puppy adventure, and has been trusted with more unstructured play time. I still never leave him alone more than a couple minutes but this is progress for him and I'm really proud. He uses this "free time" typically to chew on antlers, beat up his stuffed pig (as you saw yesterday) or swing his Kong rope toy around, throwing it for himself to chase after.

Yesterday he was getting some of this good-boy-free-time and I was in the kitchen, sipping some coffee and working on emails. I checked in on him a couple times but then got distracted by what I was doing on the computer and before I knew what had happened 30 minutes had passed and I hadn't checked in on Langley.

As soon as I realized this I strained my ear for the sound of jangling tags or Kongs hitting the wall. Nothing. Total and complete silence. The only sound was the hum of the refrigerater and old Tilly's snoring. Panicked I tore out of the kitchen and around the corner not knowing what to expect, but sure it would include something expensive and large being shredded and Langley in some part of the house he wasn't supposed to be.

Imagine my shock when I rounded the corner and this is what I saw. Not Langley kicking back in a pile of shredded area rug. Not Langley resting among books he had pulled off the shelves. No, I saw Langley snoozing on the back of the armchair. Now this may not seem amazing, but if you've lived with Langley, you know that he's typically either fully loaded, or sleeping in his crate (not by his choice.) Rarely is there an in between. So for him to choose to rest was a big step. On top of that, he didn't choose the couch location where he could have stared out the window alert to any birds or squirrels in the yard. Frodo had taken the most comfy spot on that couch so Langley chose the equally comfy spot on the back of the armchair with less of a view but more comfort. AMAZING! He chose comfort over compulsion! Just a normal dog, doing the normal lazy naptime that normal dogs do. Kickin' back for a snooze. I quietly grabbed the camera that was luckily close at hand and snapped a few shots. He woke up, but still didn't leave his comfy place.

I'm so proud of the sweet goofball. He's overcome a lot to get to "normal."  Not that there won't be crazy times ahead, but knowing that he has the capacity for "normal and lazy" makes me very happy, indeed. Good job, Langley!