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September 16, 2014

What does a dog look like?

If an alien were to walk through an Earth museum and see the skeleton of a Boston Terrier labeled “Dog” and then see the skeleton of a Great Dane labeled “Dog,” they would probably think someone from the museum’s labeling department needs to be fired. If you were the human tour
If an alien were to walk through an Earth museum and see the skeleton of a Boston Terrier labeled “Dog” and then see the skeleton of a Great Dane labeled “Dog,” they would probably think someone from the museum’s labeling department needs to be fired. If you were the human tour guide in the Earth museum, how would you describe what a dog is? Four legs and a tail? Of course, but it gets a bit more complicated after that. I’ve found that even dogs have a tough time figuring out what a dog looks like! 16.1

“Oh please, Will, don’t make me laugh. How could I not know what a dog looks like?”

For the first few months of Penny’s life, it was easy – all the dogs she saw looked exactly the same. So much so that when she first met Eko she tried to breastfeed from him!

But over the last few months Penny has learned that dogs come in all shapes and sizes. One of her first lessons was figuring out that small dogs exist and that they’re not prey.

16.2

In full hunt mode, Penny used to dash after smaller pups

16.3

“Hey lady, I’m NOT your lunch!”

It was so funny to see how startled Penny was when a small dog barked at her. You could see the circuits fry in her brain as she looked at me dumbfounded. Penny’s been on the other side of the menu when she thought a couple Great Danes were going to eat her. Luckily Penny is a quick study and adds different types of dogs to her mental catalog.

16.4

These days, Penny goes dashing towards her big friends

Ok, so there are big and small dogs, but if only it were that easy. There are so many distinct facial/body shapes that even I have a tough time keeping them straight.

16.5

Even when they weren’t interested in her, Penny used to be fascinated with terriers, Boxers and other dogs with shorter faces

And don’t forget all the different types of coats/hair dogs can have. Penny is still learning those. The other day she was absolutely fascinated by a dog with a beautiful black coat which obscured his features.

16.6

“Will, you have to see this! THE CARPET IS ALIVE!”

Most recently, Penny met her first Basset Hound and played her usual “Excuse me, are you a dog!?” game. It starts with wide circles around the pup, working up confidence to come in for a closer look.

16.7

“Excuse me, are you a dog!?”

16.8

Penny likes to put some distance between herself and mystery creatures after checking them out, just in case they’re not dogs

I do get a kick out of watching Penny get confused, but only because I’m in the same boat. Honestly, in one sentence, I could not explain to you what a dog looks like.

So brave souls, anyone want to take a shot at this one? What does a dog look like?

Comments for What does a dog look like?

  1. wow! the carpet is alive? the main thing is that a dog looks happy :o)

  2. Elyse says:

    Oh, I’ve got this one.

    A dog has a large heart, a lot of sheddable hair and slobber.

  3. Dottie and Tuffy-Cat says:

    A dog is a true friend and loves unconditionally. That’s why we can’t understand how a human could ever be mean or cruel to one of God’s greatest pleasures just for us to enjoy.

  4. Dottie and Tuffy-Cat says:

    Penny sure does a lot of flying and aerobics in these photos. I understand though. That’s the way I used to react (in my younger days), and you just couldn’t keep me away from the beach.

  5. Oh Penny, you’ll figure it out soon enough! Artemis can sympathize. She gets frustrated when I take Apollo to the groomer and bring back a similar black and tan dog with less hair. Every time she gets confused and is suspicious of the new intruder.

  6. Emmadog says:

    Oh, this was a funny post. Mom and I really got a good laugh out of it!

  7. Eve says:

    Love the pictures! Playing so cool in some of them!! Juley (the hound) is very visual in her people too; she knows who is suppose to be at this house and who isn’t! Because I’ve had her bark at me until she either hears my voice or sees me then her whole body language changes!

  8. My rather undersocialised rescue Staffy does this! He used to attack anything on four legs but now he dashes up to a dog, sniffs it from about a metre away, then dashes away again. It took me a while to work out that he wasn’t aggressive, he was just completely dumbfounded by these weird four legged beasts in all shapes and sizes! For a long time he had a fear of ‘alive carpets’ but even they are quite nice afterall in his brain now 🙂

    I adore your blog by the way. Rhodies are my favourite <3

  9. Kyla says:

    Wait until she discovers cats.

  10. Fun post with such fun photos and captions. That dane looks like a elephant compared to Penny. Love the basset picture.

  11. Penny is so fun and so funny. I love seeing her figure out her world. I think if an alien sees a creature that’s cute, cuddly, funny, and frisky, it’s a dog!

    Love and licks,
    Cupcake

  12. fozziemum says:

    Great post and beautiful fun pictures…to me a dog looks an animal that smiles..hugs Fozziemum

  13. Four legs, lots of hair (which may shed or needs a hair cut), barks and gives lots of slobbery kisses. It also must be noted that said beast partake an interest in human food.

  14. The basic description could fit too many animals…the definition of a dog comes more from the heart I think…or maybe smell 😉

  15. Oh Penny you make me laugh! Will you have got me stumped on trying to lump all those incredible differences into one simple description called “dog”.

  16. Looks like all her greatest adventures are at the beach!

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