Who's in charge?
After thirteen years of loving
Lucy, we still laugh at how well she has us trained in the art of fetching the
ball when she wants us to play, in fixing her food first thing
in the morning before we've enjoyed a silent time of reverie, or when she
demands a walk, no matter how cold or windy.
Patience.
We call our behavior 'puppy dog love' because when we first brought her home, she was the most pitiful lost terrified animal we had ever been around. She would not leave our bedroom until we carried her outside. She would not tinkle/poop unless we stayed in the yard with her. She didn’t bark or whimper. After she climbing a tree chasing an animal, she still didn't know she was a dog. In her attempt to protect me from a squirrel, she managed to chase the squirrel up my leg and then barked at me. For the full story read here: Walking Pell-Mell
Who trained whom?
We regularly watched The Dog Whisperer, Cesar, on television. I read The Loved Dog by Tamar Geller, and I took Lucy to Dog Obedience school. After six months of patiently loving and training Lucy she discovered a new life as a loved house dog and companion.
We call our behavior 'puppy dog love' because when we first brought her home, she was the most pitiful lost terrified animal we had ever been around. She would not leave our bedroom until we carried her outside. She would not tinkle/poop unless we stayed in the yard with her. She didn’t bark or whimper. After she climbing a tree chasing an animal, she still didn't know she was a dog. In her attempt to protect me from a squirrel, she managed to chase the squirrel up my leg and then barked at me. For the full story read here: Walking Pell-Mell
Who trained whom?
We regularly watched The Dog Whisperer, Cesar, on television. I read The Loved Dog by Tamar Geller, and I took Lucy to Dog Obedience school. After six months of patiently loving and training Lucy she discovered a new life as a loved house dog and companion.
The Lucy alarm!
The first time she barked in the back yard, the neighbor and I both ran to her to see what happened. Like a child who just took a first step she barked again for her newly formed audience. Ever since that first bark, she has continued to greet strangers and guests with a ferocious barking howl, until the guests give her time to sniff and pronounce them worthy of coming into her home..
Good cows. Good cows.
When we lived on Quivira Drive in Hutchinson, across the road from 40 acres of prairie, we often played hide and go seek in the tall grasses with Lucy. She relished the excitement of finding one of her lost cows. We still play in our yard hiding behind trees, or in our house Jack will turn to Lucy, who sleeps at his feet by the television and call, "Where's Letty?" Instantly, she searches the rooms until she finds me, then herds us both together. Sadly, she is aging faster than we are, with her hips quivering and back legs slipping Jack sometimes drives her to the park where she sniffs and saunters in slow-mo, as we stand shivering in the cold mumbling words to ourselves while waiting on our loved dog.
When we lived on Quivira Drive in Hutchinson, across the road from 40 acres of prairie, we often played hide and go seek in the tall grasses with Lucy. She relished the excitement of finding one of her lost cows. We still play in our yard hiding behind trees, or in our house Jack will turn to Lucy, who sleeps at his feet by the television and call, "Where's Letty?" Instantly, she searches the rooms until she finds me, then herds us both together. Sadly, she is aging faster than we are, with her hips quivering and back legs slipping Jack sometimes drives her to the park where she sniffs and saunters in slow-mo, as we stand shivering in the cold mumbling words to ourselves while waiting on our loved dog.
Togetherness.
Jack and I spend time talking about our goosey dog and how much she has become a part of our daily routine. Through her training of us, her cows one or both of us walk with her daily; she begs routinely from Jack at the dinner table; even though she is deaf, she still hears cabinets closing when Jack is in the kitchen and like magic arrives at his side waiting on a crumb to fall to the ground. At the dinner hour she herds us into the kitchen to fix her dinner and sit together as a family. She much prefers to keep her cows in one room together with her.
Off and on these last two years she has gone through weeks of
severe gastrointestinal issues that ruin carpet and make me nauseous. We love on her and feed her a special fat free Gastrointestinal canned dog food. The Vet prescribed medicine for her nervous stomach and pain pills for her aching hips. In my childhood our father would have taken her to the country one
day and put her out of misery. Now, Lucy looks at us with those brown
eyes and says, "I am sorry. I am sorry. Please don't be mad." Jack
and I work as a team to clean up and then our hearts weep inside.
Hugs and tears.
Just before Valentine's, as she lay on the cold tile exhausted
from being sick for three days, we said our good-byes to her, knowing that she
probably would die during the night. When she didn't wake us early the next
morning, I lay in bed and quietly cried. Then suddenly I felt a bump against
the bed, and felt her paw reaching for me. Like a startled bird I leaped out of
bed and found Lucy standing there with her tail wagging ever so slightly.
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| Belly rub and massage on a sunny winter day. |
I Love Lucy.
Valentine's came this year with surprises and gifts from Letty to
Jack and Jack to Letty. Lucy doesn't like to be left out. When Jack bought a
dozen radiant red roses and a box of hot tamales, my favorite candy, Lucy
signed the card with him. One year she even a bought a special Valentine card
just for me. She knows that we are a team and she is proud of her cows.
Nova hosts a show called Dog Tales that explains the science behind why dogs like being with people Click on this link to learn more Nova's Dog Tales.
