Communication

I found out something.

Stella, while stupid, is not as stupid as I had thought.

I found this out when I wondered, in a quiet voice, to Chris, “I wonder if she was previously owned by Mexicans and the reason I can’t get her to do anything is that I’m speaking the wrong language. I probably should call her by saying “Vien aquí.” And Stella heard me and came right up and sat down and looked at me, “Can I have a hot dog,” or, more precisely, “Menudo por favor.”

There are all kinds of places I can go with this, but she is a dog, for crying out loud, and anyway, we speak to her in Spanish half the time now and she’s still as stupid as a rock, but she at least knows what we’re trying to say. It’s a little better.

It’s hilarious.  Dogs are funny, and she is a funny dog, and it’s even funnier to hear Chris and the kids try to speak Spanish, and, I know, shame on me, but at least I try to keep a bilingual house even if it’s just me and the dog.

Today, I said to Georgia, “Go to bed,” and Georgia said, “Yap yap yap yap yap yap,” and I said “Go to bed,” and Georgia said “Yap yap yap yap yap,” and I said “Go to bed,” and Georgia said “Yap yap yap yap yap,” and I said, “For goodness sake, what do I have to say to get you to understand what I mean when I say, ‘Go to bed!'”

“Georgia, vaya en tu cama.”

And Georgia went right to bed.