Sandtrap

I LOVE YOU A BUSHEL AND A PECK

Just when we thought our Sandtrap developed into everything you'd ever want in a three- year old dog, she was holding back on a wonderful surprise. A gift we could not even imagine.

This particular morning, after our walk, I sat her on the grooming table, finished her toilette, as I did every day (because of my allergies). She was brushed, combed, washed the paws, rubbed a little "ever-so-silk" lotion on her coat. We were ready for talk-time.

I said, "You're beautiful and I love you." Then I continued and said, "I'm so good to you....you should be giving me 10 bushels of love." To my amazement, she lifted up her paw and gently tapped 10 times on my wrist. I couldn't believe what was happening...Was that really 10? I said to myself.

So I asked her again, "Give me 10 bushels of love?" She tapped 10 times. This time on the palm of my hand and it was definitely 10. I became so excited. How extraordinary! So I said, "Give me 8?"...She tapped 8. Then 6, she tapped six, then 5, then 9. She never gave a wrong answer.

Then I said, "Give me 20?" She hit ten times with one paw then switched to her other paw and tapped 10. That blew my mind. How was she able to do this?

I questioned Sandtrap for at least an hour, giving her numbers, and she never gave a wrong answer.

I thought to myself, "My God, Sandtrap knows numbers. How could this be?" I hugged her and kept saying, "How do you do that?" She answered every question without hesitation and was anxious to oblige. There were no treats, no instructions she did this matter-of-factly.

"This is unbelievable," I kept saying and the more numbers I gave her, the more excited, amazed and overwhelmed I became.

I could hardly wait for Syd to come home. When I heard the car in the driveway, I opened the door and as Syd was coming through the doorway, I grabbed her purse and said, "Sit down, you’re not going to believe this dog.... she knows numbers."

Syd said, "What do you mean?"

I said, "Watch this."

I sat on the floor with Sandtrap and said, " Sandtrap, give me ten bushels of love." Sandtrap immediately lifted up her paw and tapped 10 times on the palm of my hand. Then I said, "Give me six," she hit six times on my hand. I asked 5, she tappad 5,..then 15, then 20. She executed it the same way, 10 taps with one paw, then switched paws and gave 10 taps with the other paw.

Syd was dumbfounded and said, "That's weird...but amazing. How does she do that?"

All that evening we gave Sandtrap numbers until she was tired. She always gave the correct answer.

This was phenomenal.