Lady had a little quirk of her own that she developed while living with us. When we ate, Lady ate. Nancy would dish out Ladys’ food on her plate one bite at a time. Lady would eat that bite then eagerly sit and wait on the next one. She also liked to get certain things from our plates. If Durell was eating green beans, Lady always knew. She would sit in front of him with her ears perched up and those big brown eyes looking straight at his plate as though to say “ I know you have green beans”. She really loved those beans, and got them every time Durell had them. She also loved graham crackers. When we ate them, Lady would be right in front of us as if to say where’s mine. Graham crackers were her favorite treat. It was the same way with loaf bread, but it was Nancys’ Dad that hooked her on bread. He would visit with her a couple of times a day and carry a few slices of bread with him. For the rest of Ladys’ life she thought a piece of loaf bread was a treat, and she would happily eat it anytime. One morning Lady figured out that Durell was eating something that smelled good to her. So she came into the kitchen and stood watching as he pored his Cheerios into his bowl. He gave her a few and that did it. Every morning she was there by his side waiting on her Cheerios. If Durell got them out of the box, she would eat them, but that was not satisfying. She would stand there until he gave her some out of his bowl. He had to reach into the bowl three times to satisfy her. We think that she had learned to count to three, because she would not leave until Durell had reached into his bowl three times. If he stopped at two, she would just stand there and look at him. When he reached for the third time, she was satisfied. This happened with other treats as well. Two was not enough. There had to be three.
When it was time for Durell and Nancy to get a hair cut, Nancy would go get her hair cut then come back and get Durell and Lady for Durell to get his hair cut. When we turned onto the street where the beauty shop was located, Lady knew where we were going. She would run to the passenger side of the car and put her head out of the window, licking her mouth in anticipation of a treat. When we were parked she would look straight at the shop door waiting for Gwen to come out with her saltines. Once Gwen gave Lady the saltines, she moved to the other side of the car ready for Nancy to take her for a ride while Durell got his hair cut. When they came back to pick Durell up, Lady was at the passenger side of the car waiting for Durell and Gwen to come out of the door. She knew that Gwen would have more saltines. Once Lady ate the saltines, she would put her front feet on the arm rest between Durell and Nancy ready to go.
Lady knew quiet a number of words. After she learned to ride in the car, we could not say the word unless we were going to ride. So we began spelling the word. It was not long until she caught on to what we were doing, therefore spelling ride meant the same as saying it. If we said kitchen, away to the kitchen she would go. It was treat time as far as she was concerned. It’s time to go out meant go to the den door. It’s bed time meant go to the bed in the bedroom, not the other two beds. We called her by several names such as sweetie, sweetheart, pretty girl and she would come running. She knew all of those names meant her. Lady would walk with Nancy every morning to get the newspapers. The first time she went, Nancy told her that she could not go below the big oak tree that is about half way down the drive. It only took one time explaining to Lady that she might get in the road and a car come speeding around the curve and hit her. Every morning she would stop at the oak tree and smell around in the grass until Nancy got the papers and come back to were she was. When Lady was in the front yard for any reason, she never went below the oak tree. There were many other words and phrases that she knew, but we believe you get the picture. She was a smart little Cookie.