I've written before about Flynn's habit of showing/herding me to sit on benches when we're out. For some reason, if he sees an empty bench, Flynn wants me to sit down on it. Not for long but I should sit, because that's The Rule. He's done this as long as I can remember - despite him not otherwise wanting to stop on walks. Before I had Flynn's prompting, I didn't even use benches very often but my health isn't great, so I don't complain about having a rest & do - usually - sit when he asks me to!
Now, normally Flynn "finds" benches when we're in the woods & there are only a few seats total. However, a few days ago we went for a short walk round the old churchyard & along the length of one side of the church is a whole long row of benches. I DID sit down on the 1st bench Flynn "showed" me, which he was pleased about. Here he is monitoring my sitting:
After a cpl of minutes, Flynn decided a) he was bored &/or b) I'd had enough rest, so he encouraged me back up. We continued on our way... well, sort of. Flynn passed one bench, but we had a standoff beside the one after that, because he wanted me to sit & I did not want to sit. In the pic below, it looks like he was merely sniffing the seat. No. Flynn was alternately poking at the bench with his nose & then staring me dead in the eye, to make sure I was getting the message...
Despite my attempts to jolly him along, our progress down that row of benches was s l o o o o w... Flynn would sulkily go past one or 2, but then decide I should definitely sit on the next bench & we'd have another standoff. This last pic was at the last but one bench. Flynn was now quite annoyed with my wilfulness. For a few seconds he just looked at me & then he suddenly slapped his paw on the bench & then he did it again & just waited. The message was clear: "See where my paw is? You sit right there! Sit!!".
He makes me laugh. I've never thought I'd see the day when my own dog resorted to smacking a bench, in an effort to order me to sit down & follow The Rules (which HE made up)!
