HOW DOES SHE KNOW?

Note:  There is only one picture in this post.  You’ll thank me later.

Tippy doesn’t get sick very often.  When she does, it is because she has either gotten into something rotten she has found or has eaten too much, too quickly.

Back in the summer, we had taken a walk in the back field.  I saw her run up the hill toward the gap in the fence.  When I got there, she was sniffing what appeared to be where something had gotten sick.  I made her get away from it and come in the house.  A few minutes later, she started whining, wanting to go outside.  I thought she was wanting to go do what dogs do, eat the pile of yuck, so I wouldn’t let her out.  A couple of minutes later, I heard her gagging and had a mess to clean up!  I told her I would listen to her from then on.  As she had never gotten sick in the house before, I wonder how she knew that it was something that she should do outside and not in the house?

Fast forward a couple of months and she got sick again.  But, this time, it was more than a one or two time thing.  I had listened and taken her out when she wanted to, so no mess to clean up.   But, again, she showed recognition that she was sick and that she might have to go outside quickly.  How do I know?  She slept beside me, on the floor in the bedroom.  She had never spent the night in the bedroom before and hasn’t since.  That night, she woke me up about every two hours to go outside.  I took her to the doctor the next day.  She didn’t have a fever, so she thought she might have gotten into something that upset her stomach.

If you read my last post, you know that Tippy has had restricted freedom for the last three weeks.  Today, she ran out the door when I was trying to put a box out to be recycled.  Usually she will wait on me, but I think the call of freedom was too great for her today!  I watched, and she took off at full speed under the fence.  It reminded me of a prison break.

She ran in the opposite direction from where the cows are fed in the winter, so I just let her be, planning to go find her if she wasn’t back in 15 minutes.  She returned in fewer than 5.  Since she came back quickly, I decided to let her have a little of her normal freedom back, and left her out for over an hour, checking on her periodically.   She did great, but must have found something to eat while she was out and about because, after we came in for the night, she asked to go back outside and promptly threw up twice.  She has been fine since, so I think getting it out of her stomach was all that was needed.   She is sleeping on the couch now, but, you can rest assured that if she wants to go back outside, I will take her!

Do your dogs know when they are sick and ask to go outside?  I’m curious to know if it is a normal behavior or not.