Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Alayne took these photos of blind and deaf Spinner in our welcome center about mid-day on Friday, when our vet Dr. Brenda Culver was here.  Spinner was just hanging out in the too-small dog bed after her exam.  We were having a conversation during a lunch break when Brenda popped a frozen-food dish in the microwave.  The microwave door had barely closed and the turntable wasn’t even spinning yet.

Suddenly, Spinner erupted into her "Look out!  Something’s new here!" barking routine, her head swiveling around, side-to-side, front-to-back, nose up, scanning the ether.  Her shrill alarm-barks filled the room.

Brenda looked at Spinner, then at me, with a "What is that all about?" look on her face.  I asked Brenda, "Did you just puncture a hole in the plastic on top of the dish before you put it in the microwave?"  She had.  I explained what happened.  Puncturing the plastic had released new smells into the room, and Spinner immediately picked them up and was letting us know. 

Now, you and I may not be able to smell frozen food through tiny holes punctured by a fork 10 feet away, but Spinner certainly can!  And she wants to make sure we know about it.

I told Brenda the story about a similar episode, when I took Spinner to an eye specialist in San Diego for surgery in 2005.  (The operation to restore her eyesight didn’t work.)  The eye surgeon had just finished examining Spinner and had turned around to wash his hands in the exam room sink.  Suddenly Spinner burst into her barking routine, thoroughly alarming the surgeon and his vet tech.  Then, as now, it was a new smell released into the air.  I asked the surgeon if he had just put soap on his hands.  Sure enough, he had pumped soap onto his hands from a liquid soap dispenser, and although none of us could smell it, Spinner could. 

Alayne was actually already shooting photos of Spinner when this
happened on Friday, because she thought Spinner looked funny, squashed on top of
the tiny dog bed.  That’s how we happened to get the photos!