Lily is officially turning seven this week: l’âge de raison. Although she has mellowed out since her puppy years, she’s still a very active girl who exhibits this endearing quality present in all dachshunds: stubbornness. Her eye/mouth coordination is excellent and genetics must have played a part: her mother was a superb Frisbee catcher while Lily routinely nabs bugs in flight. She’s not much of a digger, a talent that would come in handy when we start restoring my grandparents’ old house: I guess we’ll need to hire professionals to trench out the septic tank after all. Her hearing is very fine tuned to a variety of sounds, including the chimes of Skype when my mother calls on Sunday morning, the “pshhhhlrp” of Reddi-Wip coming out of the can, and –unfortunately– sirens from all emergency vehicles. She understands several English words and one French expression: c’est tout. For some reason, that command never gets challenged, establishing once and for all the obvious superiority of training pets in the French style. We know that dogs are pack animals and we’ve made sure to populate the house with an array of tasteful dachshund collectibles: paintings, prints, statues and additional objets d’art contributed by thoughtful family members. Strictly for her own comfort and enjoyment: c’est la vérité, je le jure. Rick took this picture of her and one of her friends while he was having breakfast at the dining room table. She was eying his croissant; he hadn’t said “c’est tout” yet.
Vocabulary
L’âge de raison: the age of reason
C’est tout: that’s all
C’est la vérité, je le jure: it’s the truth, I swear