my smart boys

brady (left) and max, in the truck, ready to travel

as you probably have known already, i have two dogs: an english mastiff and a yellow lab. max – the english mastiff – is a very observant dog. whenever he’s outside he’d notice things. birds, trees, bugs, flower petals blown by the wind, deers, bridge above our boat, .. . whenever we take him to a new place he’d sniff out new smell, see new things and mark his scent as much as he can.

brady, on the other hand, is a very ignorant dog. as far as he’s concern there’s only two things that interest him: food and water. nope, not drinking water, but water deep enough to waddle or even swim in. he loves to ride in the back of the truck, sure, but he doesn’t notice things the way max does (max would bark at passing trees and tries to catch them). brady just likes the wind in his face and knowing that we’re going somewhere fun. once he sees the lake / river / pond, he’d go straight to the water and make a big splash and swim around before we even get there.

the same trait goes when patrick (my baby boy) is around. patrick’s learning to crawl, and everytime he’s down on the carpet, wiggling and waddling, max would want to come closer and sniff. he’s very curious at what patrick’s doing, probably thinking it’s a new game. but brady would just sit in his corner, asleep or sometimes watching idly.

but there are something i’ve noticed with brady. a few months back i was sitting in the living room and patrick’s already in the bedroom, asleep. my bedroom is hidden in the back of the house, and to get there you have to go thru the kitchen and laundry room. i know, weird. but it’s a small house so it doesn’t bother me. anyway, suddenly brady stood up, facing the kitchen, ears upright. and when i said “brady, what’s wrong?” he just looked at me and then resumed his position, alert. at that moment i could faintly hear patrick crying. apparently brady heard him.

today it happened again. patrick’s asleep in his crib, in the dining room (his day bed). suddenly brady stood up, looking up at me. not alert, but he was trying to get my attention. again i asked him what’s wrong, and he turned his head toward the dining room. so i checked on patrick. apparently he’s having a stuffy nose and was asleep with his head buried between his hands, so his breathing was heavy and i could hear a faint squeaking everytime he inhales. i switched his head position so that the nose would face outward, and the squeaking stopped. brady relaxed and resumed his nap.

me and hubby agreed that when it comes to intelligence, brady doesn’t have much. he’s pretty dull. but it gives me great comfort knowing he takes care of patrick and would let me know if something happens to him.

smart boy. i’m a proud mama.