Khoi Vinh
flow
charted the thought process of his dog (Mr.
President) which got me thinking about the thought process of my
dogs. Bandido’s
is entirely too complex to flow chart, and I only understand small bits of it,
but Ebony’s has always been relatively simple and it seems that the limitations
of her rather ancient body have simplified it even further. So, being the type
of person who enjoys making flow charts I figured it would be fun to map out the
way she thinks. But, there are a couple things you need to know to fully
appreciate this. First of all,
Ebony
will be 14 in a couple weeks (I’ve had her since she was one), and she’s a Great
Dane. Officially Great Dane’s live about 9 to 13 years, but it’s my impression
that it’s pretty rare to see one older than 10. Combine that with those
long
legs and you’ve got a dog who has a lot of trouble
standing, or sitting, or laying down. Stairs with more than five steps are no
longer and option (she falls down) and the only reason she’ll deal with those
short flights is that she couldn’t get into the house without being carried if
she didn’t, and she really doesn’t like being picked up. That and she knows that
I’ll catch her when she starts to fall trying to go up those which happens at
least once a week.



So, without further ado, I present to you Ebony’s thought process: