Other Quirks
Just a couple random pictures interspersed with other Vincey personality traits not mentioned elsewhere.
Vincey was afraid of plastic bags, or at least the act of opening them (like a garbage bag), she'd run for the closet or bathroom. Same thing with our standing clothes "dryer tree" thing. And of course the vacuum cleaner. Lightning scared her, but not thunder.
She LOVED car rides and going for runs. I think her favorite moment ever was the day I was running her, and we came upon a neighbor opening her car door to leave, and Vincey didn't even hesitate before jumping right into her car. She loved licking our plates after dinner, and ESPECIALLY loved licking empty butter wrappers. Her mouth would drool water works in anticipation of treats, but she wouldn't cry or beg, she'd just sit there patiently waiting for the "ok." Then there'd be a puddle of drool to wipe off the floor.
Dogs DO have a sense of time. I took her to dog parks EVERY Saturday for years, especially when she was a pup, to get her socialized. After a few months, on Saturday morning before I even finished my coffee she would be whimpering, following me even more closely than usual, just waiting to go to the park. She never did it on Sundays, though, just Saturdays. Somehow she came to know the first day I was home and not going to wherever-it-was-I-went-during-the days-while-she-was-in-charge-of-the-house meant doggie friends at the park! The second day? That was puppy recovery day from all the Saturday activity!
Summer 2013:
She would sit, stay, shake hands, kneel down, and refuse to eat a treat held right in front of her nose until she was told "ok." She rang a cowbell to let us know when she wanted to go outside. She gave her paw when she wanted something from us.
Doggies supposedly aren't fooled by animals on TV because they can't smell them, but I remember Vincey as a puppy seeing other puppies (probably on Dog Whisperer), and she LEAPT off the couch and started crying (but with her tail wagging), then darted BEHIND looking for them. Seems logical, right? She sees the pups on TV, walks to the front of the TV, still no pups, they must be behind the TV. THEN she'd run down the hall even further determined to make new friends! She'd come back down the hall and look at me with a very confused look on her face.
We taught Vincey to ring a bell when she wanted to go outside. If the weather was nice we'd just leave the backdoor open until she came back inside on her own accord. One day when we let her out it had rained relatively recently (which in Texas terms sometime in the prior week). It wasn't so recent that I was afraid of mud so Ieft the door open for Vincey. After what seemed like an hour or so I finally realized she hadn't come back inside yet. So I got up and headed to the backyard but before I got that far, there she was, sitting on the floor mat at the backdoor. She knew it had rained recently so she was waiting patiently for me to wipe the mud off her feet before coming all the way inside. Such a good girl, even though it wasn't even muddy anymore!
The only time she ever got loose was during an engagement party we threw for friends of ours. One guest had a child who they let pee on the side of our house, but he left the gate open when doing so. I was in the backyard and thought Vincey was inside with Sarah; Sarah figured Vincey was outside with me. I was talking with some people on the patio outside when we heard a whimper. We looked at each other, "What was that?" Just as quickly it dawned on me I hadn't seen Vincey in quite a while. We open up the gate to the driveway (different gate than the one the boy used to pee on the side of the house), and there's Vincey, tail wagging, wanting back in to the party. Who knows where her hour of freedom took her, but she found her way back!
This was taken right before her diagnosis, but at this point we kind of knew what we were about to hear:
Vincey would go bonkers with happiness if you said, "Want to go to Fort Worth?" This meant she got to play with Emma. Other phrases of joy included "go to the Snout" (doggie daycare to play with her friends), "go to the park" (same theory), and come to think of it, pretty much anything involving going somewhere, especially "going for a run." One time on a run we came across a couple with a dog of their own. Vincey was still pretty young and was so excited to see this dog that she RAN up to this dog, yanking me behind on the leash, and as soon as she got the other doggie, she flipped over on her back, peed, and rolled around in her mess. That's right, she literally peed herself with excitement. Nice first impression, Vincey. It was at that moment I realized I had to get Vincey to the park and doggie daycare more often to get socialized... It worked; she never peed all over herself again.
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