Some dogs also cook

Every now and again, Lagniappe earns his keep around here.

Yesterday was one of those days. I was down in the basement reloading ammunition when all of a sudden I heard him barking down the stairs. Now Lagniappe has several distinct barks and I pretty much know what he's thinking. He's got bark that tells me there's a cat in the yard, and another one for humans and cars in the drive. He's got one that says "let me in", and he's got a whole act when he thinks I've neglected my job and forgotten to feed him.

But this bark was one I don't hear too often. It was his "pay attention to me NOW" bark. I knew something was up when I heard it, so I set my cases down and went to see what was up. I found him standing on the top stairs barking down at me, and when I went up, I discovered the reason. I'd put some fish in the oven a while back and gone on about my business, trusting the oven timer to alert me but not realizing that the timer's not audible down in the basement.

But Lagniappe heard the timer and over the years he's learned to associate it with me rushing into the kitchen to turn it off and take food out of the oven. Well this time when I didn't respond, he took it upon himself to let me know, and he actually called me to let me know that dinner was ready. If not for Lagniappe, the fish would surely have been ruined because I'd forgotten all about it.

Nice to see that in addition to knowing how to ferret out marijuana and take a grown person to the ground, this ex-K-9 knows just how long Whiting is supposed to bake.

Now if I can just get him to set the table.