early morning

Almost every morning I wake up around six and as soon as my eyes open, or even think about opening, the dogs both startle awake and begin their stretches, which is the reminder that I need to get up and herd them outside for their morning constitutional. Okay, I don't even know what that means. I race them down the hallway to the back door and go out back, closing the door behind me, and remind them that they need to go pee. That is what I tell them. "Go pee!" And I say it with quotation marks and one exclamation mark.

JoJo runs down to the grass and within seconds, squats, relieves herself (and me actually) and runs back for her pat on the head and praise. Gus, on the other hand, races out back to find the flying insects that HE.MUST.CATCH. Usually that means he has forgotten about my instructions, as well as any other information that might have been stored in his teensy little brain, so I have to go sit on the steps and wait a while (read: wake up outside, enjoy the sunrise and the cool morning air) until he finally settles down enough to lift his leg. If I'm really lucky, JoJo will trot over to the side of the house to her designated pooping grounds and returns after a few moments ready for a really big heap of praise. If a miracle occurs, Gus will eventually circle around three times and then squat in my flowerbeds. Miracles of this sort do not happen often. Wah.

Yesterday morning was just a bit different. JoJo followed her usual routine, tossing a bit of luck my way. Gus continued in his usual preoccupied state, darting and leaping here and there after flying buzzing creatures.

All action ceased instantly though when we heard: er-a-er-a-ooo. Then again: ER-A-ER-A-OOO.

The dogs went nuts. Screaming and hollering and barking and trembling. Trampling each other to hide behind me.

Apparently, they'd never heard a rooster before. Apparently, our neighbors to the north and east have acquired a rooster. Apparently, roosters really do crow at sunrise.

I couldn't tell if any other dogs in the neighborhood were as (a)frightened, (b)frazzled, (c)threatened, (d)all of the above and more, as they were. I don't know anything about roosters (I'll be googling to learn) but I think this one was having a great time waking up my dogs, who probably woke up the neighbors for him.