Suki's False Alarm

Yesterday evening at about 8:30 Suki began barking excitedly. Why is that so
exceptional? Because Suki seldom barks, and if she does, it's a single
low-pitched "WOOF!" Puzzled, I went to her and she stood at the doorway of
the shower. I opened the door and heard a strange hissing noise - the
unmistakable sound of a snake. Furtively I advanced into the shower with my
camera, hoping to snap a picture and then get a closer look at what was
going on. Nothing. The picture showed - the shower. The hissing noise
continued and Suki continued to bark.
Not wishing to deal with this alone, I called the neighbor from upstairs. I
really don't mind snakes, but I didn't trust my vision to determine if this
was something dangerous, should it come out from wherever it was hiding.
Together we called the police, who were unable to help us, the municipality
pset control staff who said they were not responsible, and finally, a snake
catcher.

A very nice young man named Dekel soon arrived. I told him what we were
hearing and we crept into the shower. The noise continued. Dekel, also
convinced that something similar to a viper was lurking in the drain,
stepped back and surveyed the area. Suddenly he laughed. He pointed to the
shower head. From the spout, which somehow had air trapped inside, came a
loud repetitious hisssssssssssssss!

I felt like an absolute idiot, but Dekel assured me that the noise had even
fooled him, and he had often been called to pursue such phantom snakes only
to find that there was no snake at all. I paid him NIS 100 for his trouble
and gas and he departed, leaving me a business card in case next time Suki's
alarm would not be a false one!

Amazingly, Suki still bears the instincts of any dog - something extraordinary in the house such as a strange noise, Saoirse in an aura before an epileptic attack, a tractor parked in a strange place - all make her feel uneasy. It is handy to have Suki around, even when she is not in harness, because I know she is capable of spotting a lot of things that I would not notice - even if they are not really cause for alarm. I recall my little dog Natasha standing over her bed, tail down, growling, and picking up her bed to find a black scorpion underneath, Saoirse standing in the yard barking at a hedgehog, and both dogs scrambling out of the house seconds before I felt an earthquake! What would we do without these creatures to warn us of potential danger??