Household Chores

You may know it, but doing household chores can be downright boring. And one job is more boring than the other. I've never really hated vacuuming, but it's never been a reason to see it as an adventure either. Until we decided to take Skipper into our home. Then it turned out that he found vacuuming a terrifying adventure. Our sturdy German Shepherd appears to have a special fear of the vacuum cleaner, and unfortunately, he shows this loud and clear every time. As soon as I pull out that scary device his reaction is very predictable. He runs away from the vacuum cleaner as fast as his legs can carry him, and if he catches even a glimpse of that scary machine in motion, he barks as if his life depends on it.

Skipper's Ritual

To say the least, it's not convenient, and I'm not happy with it at all. This has been a focus for as long as we have had him and I have been working on it in every way imaginable to try to get him used to this ritual. But whatever I come up with, it doesn't work. He can't get used to it and is barking from a distance. Yesterday something completely unexpected happened. While doing my vacuum cleaner ritual, I noticed that Skipper had not fled from the vacuum cleaner where I expected. I was vacuuming in the living room and expected him to have fled to the safety of the kitchen. But to my great surprise, it was in the living room. I was about to say he was a handsome dog when I noticed he had his eyes glued to the vacuum cleaner I was swirling around. As I got closer to him I expected him to perform his usual escape maneuver. The very few times he allows himself to be surprised like this, he runs out of the living room, past the vacuum cleaner, and straight into the kitchen. To safety. But this time Skipper surprised me instead of me surprising him.

Old Wooden Windowsills

With a very agile, elegant jump, which I didn't even think was possible for a dog his size, he jumped over the back of the sofa and landed with all four of his big paws on our old wooden windowsill. I watched in amazement and even held my breath for a moment in fear. I didn't expect that window sill to be able to hold Skipper's weight, after all, he weighs over 50 kilos. Fortunately, the windowsill held up, and there sat my big boy, his eyes fixed on his arch-enemy with a tilted head, observing the vacuum cleaner.

I had to take a picture!

I had to vacuum, I had to tell Skipper that this wasn't possible, and I had to laugh, and of course, I had to take a picture. It's not every day that a large German Shepherd sits on the windowsill in front of the window. Behaving like a cat. It actually looked hilarious, to be honest, but it was also further proof that Skipper is quite inventive after all. He knew the vacuum cleaner wouldn't get there.

Another Ritual

After I took the photo, I persuaded Skipper to get off the windowsill before I could finish my vacuuming session while Skipper was barking loudly. When that was finally done and I had put the vacuum cleaner back in its usual spot, Skipper walked curiously towards the vacuum cleaner, as if he wanted to check whether the danger had really passed. This is also a ritual of his that I recognize, at those moments he seems to want to check whether the vacuum cleaner is indeed 'dead'. And well, that's true... until I bring the monster back to life.

Dogs & Vacuum Cleaners

It never ceases to amaze me how dogs and vacuum cleaners make such an unlikely combination. I have had dogs before who were afraid of the vacuum cleaner at first, but I always managed to get them to eventually just like the vacuum cleaner and accept it as something that is part of the job. With Skipper, however, that seems to be an almost impossible task. I will have to get as creative as he is to find a way for him to tolerate the vacuum cleaner without him ending up on the windowsill every time.

Some Work To Be Done

The fact that he expressed his fear in a new way yesterday makes me realize that there is still some work to be done. Yesterday things went well regarding the windowsill, but that could have turned out differently. When we thought about possibly getting a cat, we already thought it was better not to take that risk because we no longer trust those windowsills. Skipper has now proven to me that the window sills are even stronger than we thought, but I still don't want him to test this out more often. Although I must admit that I watched with admiration as he landed on the windowsill as nimbly as a cat.

Should We Get A Cat To Keep Him Company

Conclusion? Vacuuming will remain an adventure for a while with Skipper in the house, but it keeps me sharp, it keeps me busy, and I still have some work to do. Despite all that, I have to admit that yesterday was also hilarious and surprising, so I'm secretly curious about the next creative solution that Skipper finds to solve his vacuum cleaner problem. If he ends up on the windowsill more often, it may also be a reason for us to reconsider our decision not to purchase a cat. If the windowsill can hold a Skipper weighing 50 kilos, it may be able to accommodate a cat weighing no more than 5 kilos to keep him company there.

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