It’s been a while!
And Bella is still our sweet little Shiba doggy!
She still goes for a nice long walk in the morning,
sometimes down to Pin Mill and depending on the tide times, a paddle; and sometimes
just around the fields. Sometimes obedient and loving and responsive, sometimes
pully and willful and exhausting!
She still gets her lunch time walks although we haven’t been
behind the Red Lion pub for some time, in fact only once after the Bunny Incident!
I had listened to the stories of how Bella “caught another
rabbit today” and how said rabbit was eventually prised from Bella’s strong
jaws and ‘discarded’. Remember, that Bella is ALWAYS on the lead. She is NEVER
let off the lead outside the house! I
saw first hand how quick she is as she leapt into the weeds alongside the path
just a couple of metres in front of me and emerged with a teeny little bunny in
her jaws. The poor thing would have been dead the moment she touched it :( And Bella stood. There was no ways she was
going to let her prize go. But it was as if she didn’t know what she was
supposed to do. No matter of coaxing her to ‘DROP!’ ‘Drop It!’ made any
difference. Bella stood with her jaws tightly locked on to the poor ex-bunny. I
tried holding her snout to make her drop it; I tried prising her jaws open; I
tried giving her a fright and poking her in the ribs. Even if she did drop it,
I thought, how was I going to stop her picking it up again. I only have two
hands! Two hands to open the jaws, two elbows to shove her out the way once
she’d dropped it and two legs to block her? I have no idea how the problem
eventually panned out, but the bunny was dropped and I dragged her away
immediately. Needless to say, I dragged her back towards the way we’d come and
she was restrained to walk behind me all the way home, leaving a dead little
bunny on the footpath – sorry! Straight
to bed for her and stern looks and a pointing finger every time she ventured
off that brown sheepskin bed. Yes, she did look sorry for herself and no, I
don’t have any photos!
The back garden has been out of bounds for months. But with
the summery weather I did let her come out with me when I was hanging out the washing, or the odd time I managed to sit outside and relax with a glass of something cold!
However, before walking out the back door, Bella had to sit and listen to the
riot act: “STAY ON THE GRASS!” It worked for a few weeks. We were able to let
her come outside with us, after reading the riot act each time, and she wandered
around, rolled on the grass, chewed random sticks and seemed very calm and
peaceful. Until one day we could do nothing but watch as the 8 foot high laurel
hedge quivered as she disappeared underneath it, climbed over the wire fence
behind it and into our neighbour’s garden – again! So unfortunately, the lead
is back, even in our own back garden. It gives a new meaning to the little boy's request: "Please sir, can I have my ball back!"
On the positive side, she’s less hyperactive when she sees a
cat on the 9.30pm ‘cat walk’ (our nickname as that’s when the cats are all
out!) She still does the lunge, the excitement level tops out, but it doesn’t
last as long and she comes away easier than before. So I suppose after
two-and-a-half years that’s progress!
And also on the positive side, she takes less time to
investigate a ‘stranger’ in her home. Previously she would retreat to
her corner and not be coaxed by any means into a room with a non-resident in.
Now, after perhaps an hour, that person gets the privilege of a nose touching a
foot, until the human moves or speaks! Although once said human has vacated the premises, she thinks it's time to celebrate! Like last night, she 'put up' with our dinner guest, quietly accepting his presence in her kitchen, which doubles as a dining room, and allowing us to sit in the lounge and talk while she sulked in her bed in the kitchen. We'd stolen her time she has with us after supper, she missed an ear rub! So when our guest left, she did her manic run around the house, picking up a critter on the way to throw into the air in celebration, lunged at Daddy (ouch!) staffie-style and looked generally happy! Snob!
