For about a kabillion years I’ve secured my dogs in their kennels when I vacuum the house. I learned the hard way. My French Bulldog girl Dax thought the vacuum was her arch-enemy and battled it ferociously whenever it came into her domain. And she grabbed hold of the extension tube one day, cracked a molar and spend three hours and lots of my money in surgery getting it removed. Lesson learned – by me!
So it’s very very strange to me that my current dogs, Teddy and Torque, both also French Bulldogs, could not possibly care less about the roaring beast that is the vacuum cleaner. They sort of follow me around and plop down in the general vicinity when I’m working in a room, but they don’t bark, don’t chase, aren’t bothered by it at all.
What’s really surprising to me about this is that Teddy was around when Dax was still with me. He saw her meltdown whenever the vacuum appeared. And heard it, too. They were crated next to each other in the dining room. And I do know that dogs learn by watching each other – anyone who’s ever had two dogs knows that they not only feed off each other, they also learn by watching each other.
So I have no idea why Teddy is Mr. Phlegmatic about the vacuum – and the floor steam cleaner. He actually really likes the steamer – as soon as I finish a patch of floor he lies down on it to revel in the heat. Teddy loves the warmth. I’m happy about it, though. And that Torque is taking his cues from his older “brother.”
