April 2, 2013

  • What IS That?

    Ilah moved home to live with us on or about the 17th of January.

    What did you bring me? Riley greeted her and he seemed quite convinced it would be something of value. She brought him nothing, however, and he promptly lost all interest in her and has never so much as flicked his tail in her direction since. (He does sit between me and her, gazing intently at her and then at me, during dinner time, when bits of food might at any moment fall dogward.)

    Annie, on the other hand, shouted OH, MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT? and ran all over the house. ATTACK! ATTACK! HIDE THE BONES, GRAB THE PEOPLE, EVERYBODY RUN FOR COVER

    That evening Ilah moved around in her room and the hackles rose on Annie's neck, she released a low growl and began barking menacingly as she stalked Ilah's door. And she has done that every third time Ilah moves around every day ever since.

    Nancy and I have even talked about it. Why hasn't she adjusted to that noise? 

    We snap, "Annie, leave it!" and she does. Until next time.

    We worry that Annie has a bad attitude toward Ilah, although she seems like Ilah well enough: it's the NOISE she doesn't like.

    It would be disingenuous of me to pretend I don't understand. Ilah uses a walker. her walker has wheels on the back and skids on the front, so it creaks like most walkers do and it makes this slow, dragging sound, like scales moving across the floor. Every time Ilah comes out of her room I visualize this giant dragon dragging its tail through my living room. And like Annie, I don't seem to ever acclimate to the sound.  

    All things considered, life with Ilah and the dogs has gone better than I anticipated. She likes Riley, and appears to be very comfortable with him. She likes Annie well enough, although she says, "she's nosey." (She is.) Annie is just very active, running here, there and everywhere all of the time and I think just that activity level can be a little hard on the elderly (sometimes it's hard on me.) There is also The Thing in the Back Yard we must be alerted to five times a day, The Horrible, Very Bad, No Good Mailman (we hate him) to be announced and Someone Walking on OUR Sidewalk alerts to be issued whenever that happens. We keep the curtains drawn in the living room because it provides a little less visual stimulus for the dogs. It also makes the room dark. But neither dog is afraid of the walker, they simply respect it, and while Annie feels free to run into Ilah's room whenever the door opens, she so far has not stolen or mutilated any sacred treasures.

    Today Annie and I go see her trainer, review Cheryl's faltering training steps and sign up for our intermediate obedience class (again.) We have to get Cheryl trained.  

    Annie and I have a ritual we do every morning. She gets up with Nancy, goes outside to her her morning work, has her breakfast, and by then I am usually up and seated at my computer.  Annie comes and nose-bumps me. This is my cue to hug her and fondle her all over her body, with particular attention to her head, pick up her feet and scratch her butt. When she first came to live with us we could barely touch her head, we could not hug her, she was nervous about us touching her feet--but she loved a butt rub. She will tolerate anything if it evolves eventually into a butt rub. Now she cuddles up next to me--all parts always moving--and makes little snorty noises which I choose to believe are sounds of pleasure. We do this every day.

    Yesterday we practiced five times, just to make sure we got it right.