In March of this year, my husband, Jim and I decided to get away from the cold, dreary weather. So we loaded our fifth wheel and off we went with our Springer, Eliot for nine days in the warm sun in Charleston, South Carolina. This was not our first trip there, so we stayed at same campground we had stayed in previously. Upon arrival at Oak Plantation Campground, the person who checked us in warned us of a storm coming that evening. The storm was soon upon us, but it was just proved to be thundershower that evening.

The next day was sunny and warm and we had places we wanted to visit. However, that evening as we were watching television, it started to rain, and then began to pour! Then at 8:30 pm, the news came on television! The weatherman was saying that if you lived in a mobile home on John’s Island, that you should evacuate now! Well, that is exactly where we were! Jim said that he was going to the bath house, which was the nearest block building. The first thing I could think of was that I could not leave Eliot here! So as a tornado was headed directly towards us, I put on Eliot’s raincoat and then mine and we all raced to the bath house. We waited for an hour inside and then the rain had slowed down and we could stand outside under the roof overhang. We could see the storm leaving the area. After another half hour, we went back to our fifth wheel, which was still there just like we left it. Of course, we were soaked everywhere our raincoats did not cover us.

The next morning, we learned that a tornado did touch down both north and south of us. But we were fortunate, and there was no damage in the campground. In case of emergency you have to be prepared!

It is funny, we all have our routines and we tend to find comfort in our everyday routines. When my daughter, Denise, was young, she had a bedtime routine. You know the usual, bathe, brush teeth and listen to a bedtime story. Every night, Denise would crawl into my bed for a bedtime story, before being tucked in her own bed at night. I read her so many books, starting with the golden books then moved on to the classics like Tom Sawyer and the Little House on the Prairie series. As soon as Denise was preparing for bed, my second Springer, Spencer, would hunt for his yellow squeaker ball. It was his favorite and he always remembered where he had it last.

As she crawled into my bed, Spencer would crawl under the bed with his favorite ball in his mouth. As soon as I would begin to read, he would begin to chew on his ball, make it squeak. As long as I continued to read, he continued squeaking his ball. If I stopped for any reason, he would stop as well. If Denise fell asleep, and I stopped reading, Spencer would stop squeaking his ball, and crawl out from under the bed to “help me” put her to bed. Not only did Denise find comfort and security and also a love of books from her routine, I think that Spencer found the security under the bed and comfort from my voice and chewing his squeaker ball. Dogs are a lot like children and they like routine too!

Eliot, our third Springer Spaniel, for some reason thought that he should have been born with human hands.  Now, he was obviously ignorant of the text book definition that a dogs front paws were “but still they are useful for little besides digging and locomotion. The dog cannot really grasp things with its feet.”

Obviously the scholar that claimed that a dog cannot grasp objects with his feet has not met Eliot.  Eliot can shake hands, hold hands – let me clarify this, he doesn’t just give you his paw like most dogs, he squeezes it, and gets noticeably upset if you don’t squeeze back – and he can unwrap packages and treats.  

UPS packages can’t be left unattended as our eager springer spaniel has learned to pull open the tape with his mouth and stick his paws in the box until the lid comes open, hopefully revealing mail order dog treats.

Most of all, however, Eliot likes to shell peanuts. Some how, with two paws and his tongue, he manages to crack open the shell, and dig the peanut out, carefully not eating any shell.

What tricks can your Springer do with his paws? Is he or she also paw gifted?