Getting Older

October 30, 2019 is Cully's adoption date. We will have had her for SEVEN years this October. She will be 9ish-10ish, and depending on which of those she is, she and I will be close to the same age. 

I really wish I could say that nearly seven years of non-stop training has been a resounding success, but, sigh, she is a challenge. I refer to her as my Whack-a-Mole dog. Just as I get one behavior under control, something else pops up or she regresses to something that I thought was long gone. 

Walking her is a lot easier than it used to be. She is only slightly nervous around trash trucks, still doesn’t care for loud motorcycles and will bark at some of them, and will pass by almost all dogs without a second look. Last week I would have said “all dogs” without the “almost” caveat. But then there were two completely unexpected, out-of-the-blue reactions between last week and this. Whack-a-Mole.

Loud popping noises send her into complete panic. Backfiring vehicles will turn her right around on her leash in a mad rush to get home. The weeks leading up to, and after, the 4th of July are a complete nightmare. 

As far as energy level goes, Cully is a lot like me. We walk our two miles in the morning and consider ourselves done for the day. She has spurts of energy when her buddy Lionel brings a chipmunk in through the dog door but otherwise contents herself with moving from one dog bed to another only getting up to bark at random things throughout the day. She is a very relaxed dog—until 4:00 p.m. sharp—at which point she realizes that dinner is only an hour away. The mayhem that ensues for the next hour....

I'm so hungry...

Chillin' on the porch with dad.

 Just a few photos to prove we’re still alive…

Keeping company during a thunderstorm

leaf love

If I fits, I sits

Photo Update

 

Relaxing in the Packaging

Weird headgear

Catching some zzzzs

Cully’s winter quarters

Meditating 

Photo Update

 

Winter Pics

Merry Christmas!

I'm not coming out until winter is over.

FOR ME??!!??

Just a Few Pics

Cat conference.

Excuse me but I'm trying to sleep here.

Just another beautiful flower.

Upward facing dog.

Upward facing cat

Have you finished the floors yet?

No? I'll just wait outside 'till your done.

Four comfy chairs,
she chooses the stone table.

 

Dog Gone

There's nothing worse than that pit-of-the-stomach feeling when you realize your dog has escaped. 

We were having a new furnace installed. I hadn't closed the dog door which lets Cully out back. I figured that all of the workers had their own dogs and would understand that the gate needed to be kept closed. But I hadn't really understood their focus on the job at hand and the amount of back-and-forthness there would be to the AC unit out back. 

I pretty quickly realized that Cully wasn't home. She had been popping in and out the dog door all morning checking on the work that was being done and when the dog flap stopped flapping my subconscious prodded me out of my chair to check on her whereabouts. She was nowhere to be found. 

I asked the furnace guys if they had seen her but they hadn't. They immediately started calling for her, but I knew that would be futile. If she didn't come when I called, she wasn't likely to come to relative strangers, no matter how much she liked them. I grabbed her leash and treats and started off up the cul-de-sac. Since the gate that she escaped through was on that side of the house, I guessed that she'd probably just keep going in that direction. I didn't see her in anyone's front yard and the house next door was fenced but none of the houses after that had enclosed yards. 

She hadn't gone far and she wasn't alone. Lionel, her trusty partner in crime was with her in the backyard just beyond the next door neighbor's. They were together sniffing at something in the grass. When I called her name, Cully lifted her head and took off further into the yard in a spastic run, the kind she does when she's got something that she shouldn't have and knows she shouldn't have. The great escape was now a big game. 

I ran into the yard, pulled the treats from my pocket, and waved them in the air to get the scent blowing in her direction. Cully was running circles, mouth open in a big grin, butt tucked. She ran a few more circles then stopped, nose in air. I called her name and held a treat for her to see. She paused for a few seconds to think it over, ran a few more circles, then came at a dead run towards me stopping long enough for a quick snack and for me to grab her collar.

Cully, prancing, was accompanied back to the house by her self-appointed, furry, yellow bodyguard. Exhausted by their big adventure, the friends slept away the afternoon.

We almost made it...

An Update

I know, it's been awhile, but I thought I'd post an update just in case anyone out there is still interested in what is going on with our girl-hound. 

Cully has been here two and a half years now. It's been two and a half years of non-stop training. I would like to say that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and in some cases, I think maybe she's finally got it, but in others...sigh. We never would have been able to do it without the trainer, but we finally have her dog agression under control. She still doesn't like dogs but she will ignore them on walks which, at this point, is all that matters. Her fear of trash trucks and motorcycles remains but is manageable. 

I am sad to say, however, that Cully's counter-surfing is here to stay unless I do as the trainer suggested and get an e-collar. Cully doesn't realize it, but she is getting closer to that training measure every time she gets caught. Last night I almost lost an entire head of cauliflower. What dog in their right mind will eat a cauliflower? Most humans won't even eat a cauliflower. Cully, however, cannot be trusted when one is within reach. Opening the veg drawer in the fridge brings her running. Hearing me unwrap a head of lettuce has her drooling. (The Lettuce Reaction makes me laugh every single time, mainly because I think of Ray's equal but opposite Lettuce Reaction. The retraction of his lips as he'd politely take that disgusting thing in his teeth and walk to the front hall to discretely drop it out of view of the giver.) Cully LOVES lettuce. Anyway, enough about her training. 

Personality wise, Cully is a sweetie. She's a bit quirky and incredibly stubborn, but sweet sweet sweet - except when it comes to squirrels. Cully despises squirrels in her domain and will explode out the back door like a squirrel-seeking missile if she sees one of the fluffy interlopers. Strangely she ignores them everywhere else but they are NOT allowed in her backyard. She enjoys the company of her cats, must have a paw on whomever she is talking to, and is especially attracted to old men. Other than these little things, Cully is your normal, everyday, vegetable-loving hound. If that is a normal thing. Vegetable-loving (shakes head in disbelief).

Paw's on.

Cully and her favorite toys.

Celebrating Valentine's day with her favorite cat.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day.

Hanging with Li.

From Z to A

"Where are the zucchini?" asked Gregg. 

"On the kitchen counter." I replied. 

There was a long pause. 

"No, they're not." he said.

I sighed and got out of my chair to point out the obvious. I was thinking that, as usual, he couldn't see what was right in front of his nose. 

But the zucchini weren't on the counter. Maybe, I thought, I'd left them in the fridge. Nope, not there. Maybe I'd accidentally put them in a cabinet. We checked all cabinets. Nothing. I was getting a bit desperate. I wondered if I'd thrown them in the dryer or left them in the bedroom.  I was wandering around the house looking for zucchini but found no zucchini. No zucchini remnants. No skin, no stem. Nothing.

Neither one of us thought that the zucchini could have been a victim of counter-surfing. Our Ray would never have let an entire raw zucchini ever touch his lips never mind steal two of them. But this girl dog...hmmm. And although we wondered, we decided to give Cully the benefit of the doubt and chalk the zucchini up to covid brain. 

Three days later an avocado disappeared off the counter. The pit, however, was found in the backyard being joyfully played with by a certain vegetable-loving hound. 

Victory

Why we call her Miss Pink Belly

 A couple of months ago, I hired a dog trainer. Although we had conquered most of Cully's fear issues, her fear of trash trucks continued to be a problem. And as she became more confident, her dog aggression  seemed to get worse. Although her dog aggression is still not under control, today we walked by a trash truck without Cully trying to back out of her skin, escape to the nearest backyard, or even walk up into the middle of someone's front yard. It has only taken one year, three months, and an enormous amount of treats but she is finally getting it. Although this might seem minor, this a major victory. 

Next up, dog aggression. And then maybe we'll tackle that little issue of counter surfing...

One year, three months.

Weird Coincidence?

Gregg and I like to watch mysteries. Cully is actually named after a character in one of our favorites (Midsomer Murders). So when our girl-hound started digging on the stair landing, my mind immediately assumed that there must be something sinister buried in that spot. Because, you see, that was Ray's favorite indoor place to dig. Outdoors he was not particular and neither is Cully. But indoors they both chose/choose the exact same location. As a matter of fact, Ray dug the stair landing so much that by the time he died there was very little rug remaining there. 

That is a coincidence. But not the weird one. The weird one is in the video. I took the video of Cully on  January 8, 2021 when I just happened to be sitting on the stairs with my laptop and she came up behind me and started digging. And when I found an old video of Ray that I had taken when he was still alive, it was from January 7, 2018. Almost exactly three years to the day from the other. So, do dogs need to go through some weird ritual digging in the early days of the new year to assure a good bone harvest? Or is there a body buried beneath our stairs (cue creepy music).

She's Come a Long Way

November 1, 2019
(scared to go outside)

October 9, 2020
(taken through the kitchen window)

Nine Months

 It's hard to believe that we've had Cully for nine months now. In some ways it seems like yesterday when we were bringing her home, but then I look at her, draped full-length on her favorite couch, and it seems like she's always been here.

I'm not going to lie, she has been an ongoing challenge. Just when we think we've got one of her issues under control, it crops up again, randomly and unpredictably, like a weed. Some things, I am sure, will never go away. Her fear of trash trucks and motorcycles seems to be insurmountable. But I'm hoping that we can get most of her other fears/issues under control. Eventually.

Overcoming her fear of the backyard at night took a long, long time. This week may be the first week we haven't had to wander around the backyard in the dark for an hour or so before Cully would pee before bedtime. We seem to have it down to twenty minutes or less (knock on wood). Although just when I thought we had it licked last time, she walked outside, flopped herself down on the grass, crossed her paws in front of her, and looked at me like she was ready for a long conversation (I wish I had a video of this, it was really funny). Like I said, random and unpredictable. 

Cully still exhibits aggression to other dogs. I'm very tuned into her body language while we are walking, watching for her head to go up and her eyes to laser-focus on a foe. Nine times out of 10 she will walk by other dogs without blinking. The tenth time she goes ballistic. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the dogs she chooses to hurl insults at: they aren't all small or all big or all bully breeds (like Ray's bête noir), they are just random dogs on random leashes being walked by random people minding their own business. We are working on this but I feel a bit out of my depth as a dog trainer since I've only had one other dog and he had no issues at all.

On the upside, Cully seems to like people. I think in her past life she had very little interaction with them since she showed no fear but no real interest either. Now that we walk around the cul-de-sac every day, Cully has gotten to know some of the neighbors and has had a chance to show her sweet side. She has a few fans on the block which I think has boosted her confidence a bit. When I think of how long it took to get her to even walk around the cul-de-sac on a leash and how much progress she has made since then, I feel hopeful that she will continue to improve. She'll never be a confident, calm dog but at least she can be the best Cully she can be. We are working on it. 

Hangin' with Li

 

 

Well...

I don't know what they were up to, but I know it was no good.

Your Wish is My Command

I scooped up Lionel and sat down on the couch next to Cully. Cully was in a frisky mood. She reached over with her jaws agape to grab my arm.
"Don't eat me," I said, "Eat Lionel."
Cully stopped dead and looked at me for a moment then reached over and gnnn gnnn gnnned Lionel on the shoulder, like she was chasing a flea. Lionel stayed relaxed in my arms, unmoving, letting Cully give him a shoulder massage. The hound then flung her head back and opened her mouth wide looking like a lion about to roar. She swung her head forward, put her mouth around Lionel's head then moved to his neck and mouthed him gently.
I laughed. Lionel jumped down and strolled away unfazed.
"Of all the commands for her to pick up quickly," I said to Gregg, "I don't think 'Eat Lionel' would have been my first choice."

Dreaming of eating Lionel

6 Months

Well, actually, it's almost seven months now and our girl-dog, Cully, is still a work in progress. However, huge strides have been made. We no longer have to drive her to the lake every morning for a walk (woohoo). Whereas before her fear kept her from enjoying a ramble 'round the 'hood, now she will willingly hit the sidewalk with us for a daily stroll. Trash trucks and other noisy vehicles continue to be fear-inducing but we try to mitigate the anxiety by leading her up into the middle of the nearest yard so that she is well away from the street and can watch the monsters drive by from a safe distance. (So far, no one has called the cops on us. We are grateful.) Now that she no longer tries to back out of her skin in fear-induced panic, we recently (last week) removed her second leash - the one that was attached to a slip collar - and walk her with only a single lead attached to a harness.

Cully is still the most comfortable napping on her couch in the house, but now that the weather has warmed a bit, she can be seen (alone! more progress!) in the backyard enjoying a snooze in the sun. She also enjoys a gentle stroll around the garden with her doppelganger sister, Juno, and LOVES to help Lionel in his quest to eradicate all chipmunks from the face of the earth.

Being a smart dog, Cully is practicing social distancing. We are too, and so is Juno. Lionel, however, is another matter. His huge circle of fans demands his attention and he continues to make his daily rounds to visit the neighbors.

We hope all of you are staying safe in these trying times and have attached a video of Cully in action. We are not exactly sure what the action was but here ya go.

Comparison, Part 2

The only thing that Ray was ever afraid of (at least that I can remember) was the vacuum cleaner. He didn't tremble in fear or yell at it, he just removed himself from its vicinity as quickly as possible. For the first I-don't-know-how-many years, Ray would exit the house and stand in the bushes until I was done (I didn't vacuum much in the winter). Then as he grew braver, he would just go to a different room. Toward the end of his life when he finally conquered his fear, he would lie on the couch and "watch" it. If I bumped his couch as I was vacuuming, he would climb down and move to a chair or the other couch.

The only thing that Cully is not afraid of is the vacuum cleaner. Although she is a bit nervous when I vacuum, she doesn't head for the hills, doesn't tremble in fear, and doesn't bark at it. I can only tell she is nervous by the fact that she picks up her favorite toys and surrounds herself on the couch with them while I go about my chore. Her other less-favorite toys are left on the floor to fend for themselves.