A Dog Named Cinnamon, Part Two

A mixed-breed dog we called Cinnamon would follow me out to the barn everyday when I gave the horses their hay.  One day, when I started out that way, I started singing that song that goes, Zippity do dah, zippity ay, My oh my oh what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine headin my way; Zippity do dah, Zippity ay; Mr. bluebird’s on my shoulder………and that is when I saw a neighboring couple, who lacked a sense of humor, walking on the road past my house.  I’d thought that I had been by myself and certainly hadn’t particularly wanted anyone to hear me singing, so I clamed up and went on out to the barn to do my chores. 

One summer day I saw that one of my sweet outdoor cats, Calico, which was long haired, had some matted fur which needed to be brushed and pulled out.  I went about the task of holding her and cutting out knots of fur that I could and pulling out some of the matted fur so that new hair could come in.  Cinnamon was watching me do this.

Later, after I went into the house, I happened to glance out the backdoor window and saw Cinnamon on the porch, holding down poor Calico with her front paws and pulling out her hair!  The poor cat had some bald spots from this!  I scolded Cinnamon and realized that I couldn’t ever let her see me groom Calico again.

On another day I pulled out some weeds among the flowers alongside the house.  Later that day I was astonished to see that Cinnamon had pulled out those flowers.  She had imitated what she thought I’d been doing!  The damage was done, and since I hadn’t caught her in the act, there wasn’t any point in scolding her.  I salvaged some of the flowers by placing them in the soil and watering them.  Then I took Cinnamon over to the flowers and put her nose near the flowers and told her no!  She was smart enough to comprehend my meaning and never did that again.  But I also made sure from that day on that she wasn't around me when I was weeding.  She was a real pistol!