The Case of the Hissing Night

[pansmom]

Picture it. Four a.m. You're sleeping. Or rather, trying to sleep. But something is bumping your face. You wake up. Gradually. The dark bedroom unfolds around you, the shadow of your husband beside you, blankets, a border collie nose--your border collie's nose--she's sitting up in bed where she usually sleeps, primly and properly sitting, uncharacteristically alert for four in the morning.

 

She's staring into your eyes with what appears to be concern. And her ears are cocked.

 

You listen. There. What's that? That faint hissing in the night. You get out of bed. Slip on your slippers. It's cold. The noise is louder in the hall, the bathroom. There. It's coming from sink. When you make use of the facilities, it stops. Or seems to stop. In the kitchen, it's even louder. You wander the house, looking around, turning faucets on and off. It's the pipes, the sound of water, definitely, water running seems to interrupt it instead of merely cover it. The previously mentioned border collie follows you around, alertly, searching the rooms behind you with her eyes, as if you just asked her, "Where is [insert name of toy]?"

 

You wonder if you left on the hose yesterday. Only you didn't use it. But it sounds like you left on the hose. You've done that before. You are very scatterbrained. Especially during the semester. And this semester, you're teaching an extra class, for the extra money. Maybe you've gone extra bonkers. Or what if some kids came up in the middle of the night and turned it on?

 

You decide to go outside and check.

 

"Wait," you say, unlocking the side door, turning to the dog and holding out your palm. "Stay."

 

And she knows this cue, this signal. It means she has to sit at the screen door and watch you instead of coming outside. She has never disobeyed it before. But this time, she leaps out of the screen door after you, pushing it open with that nose and running under the house.

 

Under the house?

 

Your husband says a possum lives under the house!

 

"Vala," you yell. "Inside!"

 

She knows this cue too.

 

She runs out, coming up to you and sitting at your feet. Then she barks, once, under her breath--in a talky tone, the way she does when the chihuahuas she hates from across the street go for their walk. (You call this her Public Service Announcement bark.) She makes eye contact, briefly, then disobeys--like she never does--to run back under the house. Finally, she comes out and sits at your feet again and actually nods--pointing her nose up in the air in the direction from which she ran. Not toward the back of the house where you fear, deep down, is that possum. But close, less than ten feet away, under the kitchen where the noise was loudest.

 

Oh brother.

 

"Thank you," you say. "Thank you for the information, Vala. Now back inside."

 

You open the side door. She goes.

 

You tell your husband the dog wants him to call a plumber.

 

--

 

ETA: There's a leak in the hot water line--DH has turned it off at the water heater, so we can still use the restroom, without paying for 1,000,000 gallons of hot water being dumped into the dirt. It's raining, so naturally, the plumber can't get here until tomorrow. Is there such a thing as plumbing mojo?

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Eeep.

Good plumbing mojo from us!

[eclare]

Good Vala! And plumbing mojo coming your way.

[mbc1963]

Good dog, Vala!

 

And good writing, Pansmom! I was sitting on the edge of my seat.

 

My dog woke me up like that, one night. My cell phone was in its usual drawer, but it was on the end of its battery, and it was going "Chirp. Chirp. Chirp." Buddy could not allow this to continue in his house.

 

Mary

[pansmom]

Good dog, Vala!

 

I know!!! After she pointed with her nose and gave that talky bark, as I walked inside chuckling, I couldn't help but think, "What's that, Lassie? Timmy's trapped in a well?" What's funny is I just had another discussion with DH--the first fully conscious one we've had about this--well,just beyond the kitchen, in the direction she pointed, is the hot water heater... I'm really not surprised! Although I shudder to think at what could be wrong.

 

And good writing, Pansmom! I was sitting on the edge of my seat.

 

Thank you!

 

My dog woke me up like that, one night. My cell phone was in its usual drawer, but it was on the end of its battery, and it was going "Chirp. Chirp. Chirp." Buddy could not allow this to continue in his house.

 

Ha! Isn't it nice to know that they'll wake you up when something's not right? I love dogs. Particularly really smart ones.

[Maralynn]

Good dog, Vala!

 

And good writing, Pansmom! I was sitting on the edge of my seat.

 

My dog woke me up like that, one night. My cell phone was in its usual drawer, but it was on the end of its battery, and it was going "Chirp. Chirp. Chirp." Buddy could not allow this to continue in his house.

 

Mary

 

Kenzi woke me up at night once, too. It was to inform me that someone was hunting coons (they had permission) in the woods nearby. It was about 4 am and I had been up until midnight doing homework. I was sooo not impressed. Missy and Kipp (wise, smart, mature Border Collies that they are) had rightly deemed it no big deal and were almost as annoyed as I was by the interruption

 

Missy did raise Cain the night I was alone at my grandma's farm house for the night and my uncle arrived well after I'd gone to bed.

[Frogs & Dogs]

Good dog!

 

We had an incident one night and I wished later that I had paid attention to Kit's warnings. She woke up and began low growls and barking. I could hear a little noise coming from outside, but that's not a rare occurrence since I live 5 mins from a college campus. Not wanting to awake my roommates, I shushed her and went back to sleep. The next morning the neighbor told me that there was a string of car burglaries in the neighborhood the previous night. Next time I'm going to listen when she sounds the alarm!

[pansmom]

Good dog!

 

We had an incident one night and I wished later that I had paid attention to Kit's warnings. She woke up and began low growls and barking. I could hear a little noise coming from outside, but that's not a rare occurrence since I live 5 mins from a college campus. Not wanting to awake my roommates, I shushed her and went back to sleep. The next morning the neighbor told me that there was a string of car burglaries in the neighborhood the previous night. Next time I'm going to listen when she sounds the alarm!

 

Wow! I assume your car didn't get burglarized--maybe Kit scared the would be burglars off! Can I get another good dog!

 

All this reminds me of the post a while back with the BC who acted weirdly until the truck s/he was riding in slowed down and pulled over, right before it blew a tire...

[pansmom]

Kenzi woke me up at night once, too. It was to inform me that someone was hunting coons (they had permission) in the woods nearby. It was about 4 am and I had been up until midnight doing homework. I was sooo not impressed. Missy and Kipp (wise, smart, mature Border Collies that they are) had rightly deemed it no big deal and were almost as annoyed as I was by the interruption

 

You'd think Kenzi would've looked to her older siblings and copied their nonchalance... Maybe next time...

 

Missy did raise Cain the night I was alone at my grandma's farm house for the night and my uncle arrived well after I'd gone to bed.

 

Another good dog! I don't know what Vala would do if we had, or if she thought we had, an "intruder." She likes people, especially strangers (I know that sounds weird, but it's true), soooo much.

[ErinKate]

Good story. Very enjoyable read! Hope all goes well with the pipe!

Sounds like Vala is doing great! Glad she is feeling better.