I keep waiting for Tessie to slow down, become less
exuberant when someone new comes to the door. She is two, how much longer must
I wait???
The average day: We wake up to a beautiful day with our
wonderful loving pet/child wagging her tail.
Thus begins a new day and she is content, stretching and yawning much as
a person rolling out of bed as she steps out of her kennel/crate.
As the morning progresses, sweet Tess curls up in the lanai
on a lazy boy
chair to take in the
outside noises as the windows are propped open, perhaps just for her? She sits
silently for hours watching the grass blow and has become an avid Bird
Watcher! Occasionally she will step
inside to see what is amiss in the house, with her mom and pops.
There is that occasional switch to another window in the
house for an alternative view of the world.
Notably the front window is a great resting place, where golf carts drive
by in full view.
Lo and behold, someone comes to the door…..the world is on
edge, Tessie’s world that is! All hell
breaks loose as her bark begins in earnest to announce “Intruders are present
and accounted for!” Even after being
assured all is well with us, she continues to breathe heavy, pace and becomes a
beast lurching at the door with her front paws.
At these times, a small 10 lb. mutt seems like a slice of
heaven compared to a 55 lb. ball of hairy muscle and confusion frantically
trying to save the world! Tessie the beast is arisen. Our once gentle passive
docile pet is so high-strung it affects both us and our visitors for a
moment.
As we are yelling “Place” her command to return to her safe
zone, that being a raised mat she has been trained to go on, we somewhat
laugh. We are not supposed to be giving
commands in raised voices but above the thrashing of her body we cannot be
heard talking in a normal tone. Tessie
places then pops off. We give the command, then back she goes,,, then off she
comes. Usually after two times, Tess is there to stay until given a command to
come off.
When our precious ball of fur is released, we go through
Round Two. The humor comes into play when we try to explain she is normally
very calm-natured. I believe company
brings out the hellion in her and we see a far different side of Tessie than
the one out in the lanai that ignores us most of the day.
So, as she ages, the question remains, will this lovable
pup soon learn that visitors are not intruders?
Is Tessie going to back off her demands for attention from every single
person that graces her with a visit to her ‘dog cave’? Will she learn that
people do not like tongues that have licked other parts of her body on them?
And lastly, what is the time-frame that Tessie will quit acting like a dog?
