This blog is dedicated to Kimberle Schiff of Oakwood Kennels. Without her there would be no Skully stories for me to tell.
Let me just start out by saying I love my Skully. He is a sweet boy and a handsome Manchester Terrier. He has brought a lot of happiness to our house in the year he has been with us. But man, oh, man does he do some stupid stuff!
I suppose it's not all his fault. I mean he comes from an intelligent breed (AKC registered and everything) and seems to be intelligent himself. But he's had a confusing life. Poor guy had three owners (in two different states) and four names before he was a year old. He has been Oakwood's Hot Like Fire, Dapper, Dougie and, of course, Skully. That doesn't even account for the nicknames we have given him (Skull-Skull, Bubbers, Lover Butt and GET TO THE HOUSE! just to name a few.). And then there was the flight from New York. I don't know what happened during the flight but when he saw me and figured out I was his forever mom, it was like the Pope seeing God. He was inseperable from me for months! Like I said, he is a smart dog but I think it's like when people say someone is book-smart. It usually means they don't have a lot of common sense. I think part of his common sense issue comes from his early life confusion but I'm sure that all of his self-inflicted head traumas don't help much.
For example, my daughter and I were standing in her bedroom doorway at the end of the hall. Skully came out of my adjacent bedroom and starts walking down the hall. Only problem is he is looking back at us and not where he is going. Next thing you know...BAM! Skully hits his head on the doorjamb of the room across the hall. By this time, he has hit his head so much that it doesn't even phase him. Without stopping, he turned his head and kept on going. Meanwhile, Josie and I are in shock (only because the BAM was so loud) and are trying our very best not to laugh at him. (We have adopted the practice of not laughing at the pets when they do stupid things because Fiona -the tabby - seems to be very offended when we laugh at her. Ok, she gives us downright dirty looks when we laugh at her!) I tell Josie that I am going to find him one of those helmets they make people with head injuries wear so they don't hurt themselves anymore. She said, "Seriously?" I said, "Ebay!" She just nodded knowingly, because she has learned Momma can find almost anything there!
But maybe it's not lack of common sense. Maybe he has ADD or short-term memory issues. The other day my brother-in-law had the recliner kicked back and was playing fetch with Skully. Well, Skully's version anyway. It's more like "You throw it. I'll get it, bring it back and you see if you can get it from me". Anyway, Skully knew the recliner was kicked back. He knew because he was sitting on the foot of it. However, he must have forgotten because when Dink threw the toy, Skully hit the floor like a ton of bricks. BAM! Scared the crap out of me. And him too! He gingerly walked over to me and with his oh-so-expressive eyes said, "Mom? What the heck just happened?!" Poor guy. I didn't know whether to cry from relief that he wasn't hurt or laugh so I gently scooped him up and held him until the memory was gone and he moved on.
He runs in to things and hits his head so often that I'm beginning to think that he likes the sound he makes...BAM! At least he can figure out where that sound comes from - unlike the another stupid thing he does. Skully has, how shall I say, gastrointestinal issues. Could be from new food. Could be from the too many Scooby snacks he gets when Uncle Dink is here. Or could be from the non-edibles that he has a fetish for, including kleenex and underwear. It has been so bad that we have made a couple of trips to the vet because he has been so miserable. But mostly he just farts. And not just any farts, mind you. At least Wolfie has the decency to have Silent-But-Deadly's. We can't hear him so everyone gets the blame until we sort it all out. He pays no attention to his gas-passing. Doesn't even blink or raise an eyebrow. It's not like he farts all the time and no longer cares, it's just that he doesn't make a big deal about it. You know, like the old lady in front of you at the check-out line at the grocery. But not my sweet Skully. When Skully farts, he about breaks his neck to see exactly where that sound came from. You would think that he had no clue what his body was doing. I would understand if he only did this the first time he ever farted. But he does it EVERY TIME! Most recently was last night in bed. Of course, he wanted me to hold him so I was very aware of the situation. As soon as the butt trumpet sounded (that's what we call it now), he whipped around, elbowed me in the chest and the inspection began. Confused and unable to find the trumpet player, he settled down and went back to sleep. I just stopped laughing (on the inside) and started to drift off when it happened again. This time I sustained no injuries - except olfactory ones - but still that damned trumpet player couldn't be found! I just cannot imagine why he would be so curious about a sound his own body makes. I mean he literally whips his entire body around to find the source of the noise. I'm guessing he hasn't ever figured it out since he still does it. But considering his love of squeaky toys, maybe he thinks that's what it is and he's trying to find it. Or figure out what it's doing in his butt.
There are many other Skully stories out there but as I am reading this to my daughter we notice that Fiona has got the worst look on her face. I don't know if she understands what we are saying or why we are laughing but I'm not taking any chances. But considering she is now in the middle of slapping Skully (in the head no less), I would say she's either jealous that the story isn't about her or she is calling him 'Big Dummy Stupid'.
