Tonight my wife and I were sitting on the bed, each of us on our computers, with the movie Eight Below on the TV. For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. The story is about an Antarctic researcher and his sled dogs. He has to be flown off the base, and the dogs end up getting left behind to fend for themselves for an entire Antarctic winter. Much of the movie follows the dogs on their struggle for survival.
As is typical in our household, both dogs are up on the bed, almost crowding us out. Guinevere was very relaxed and just about asleep. Then we hear a little growl, and then see Inara's head and ears perk up. For those of you who have seen the movie, this was during the scene where the dogs are facing the leopard seal. Inara was watching it very intently, and started barking at the TV. Every time the dogs were not in a scene or it was on a commercial, she didn't seem to care. But when the dogs were prominently featured, she was watching the movie more closely than my wife and I were. It was one of those moments that comes along rarely, and we were cracking up laughing at her interest and antics.
It really is fascinating to me how different dogs can have different reactions. One of my dogs when I was growing up would sometimes do this, but I don't remember it being as consistent in one evening as with Inara. Guinevere has never done this, and really doesn't even seem to notice that the TV is even on. For whatever reason, this movie really grabbed Inara's interest, and she was responding to the dogs.
Now we're going to have to try this with Snow Dogs or 101 Dalmations!
