Well Starskey - he has arrived. His name is Ike and you will really like him. He likes to play and he runs in circles and chases his tail just like you. He is about the same size as you are now so that will make everything even - if he doesn't grow any more that is. He is all black and his name kind of came about because of where he was found.
Ike was picked up in Mason City early in March as a stray out by Eisenhower Ave. (Walmart) and the shelter called him Dwight. We thought that Ike suited him better and he seems to like it. I think somebody loved him for a while because he is doing real good with being in the house. Only a couple of accidents in almost a week. He is catching on to the bell thing - well kinda. You being here to show him how well it works when we are busy or not looking would help a lot.
We took him down to meet Paucha this weekend. I think Paucha likes you better - or maybe he knew that you knew that you were his company so he didn't have to mark the whole place. After Saturday everything was okay though and you would have thought they had been friends for years. You missed the chance to run in circles with them! They had donut shaped bones together like you and Paucha always did. Paucha still doesn't share his donut.
Carma, Luchi, Adrian and Camilla were all there too. That meant the boys got lots of walks and spent a lot of time out doors. It was warm and sunny so they liked that - even when Camilla was in charge. They all were sure that you would like Ike too. They were glad that he is your size but that he is all black. That way they would never get you mixed up.
There is a lot you have to teach Ike. He keeps pooping in his play zone so I have to wash his feet off whenever he comes back in the house. I don't think he is going to be a porch swing dog so your spot there is very safe. He doesn't like the swing moving when he is trying to get on it either, and doesn't seem to want to learn. He does like the summer doghouse but isn't sure about the winter one yet....maybe it has to get cold enough to turn the heater on for him to figure that one out. He'd just rather be in here on the pillows in front of the fireplace - just like you.
The cats have figured things out. They sneak past when he is napping or when he is outside. They take whichever route is necessary depending on where he is. Spook is curious enough to sniff him when he is asleep. He obviously smells different then you do so she has to get him recorded to memory so she knows who she is dealing with. My bet is that she'll stay upstairs most of the time anyway. Booger does everything on the sneak. I don't even see or hear her until she heads back up the steps. I think Ike does though because sometimes he'll just stop and listen and sniff the air.
Midnight is a little cautious but still feels that he is the house boss. He rings the bell and waits for us to get a hold of Ike and then come let him out. He will go right out (or in) with Ike there - as long as we are holding him....and Midnight is smart enough to move slow so he doesn't look like anything exciting. He used to tease you by running the minute he got out the door......just so you would chase him - but then he knew what to expect from you and he hasn't figured that out with Ike yet.
Learning a new fellow's signals and remembering to stay patient and forgiving is easier for me then for Jeff. He forgets that Ike doesn't know what sit, stay, lay down and come mean yet - although Ike does know a little bit - he knows what "no" and "get down" mean. I really think that somebody loved him long enough for him to learn a few things and for him to learn to trust people. Even though he is about 5 months old (and your size) he is still very much a puppy and sleeps a lot and wants to chew on everything. Thanks again for leaving the chew toys. I got him some new ones too.....and some new floor pillows that don't smell like anybody else.
I was thinking how, when you were about his age, we wondered if you thought your first name was "No bite" and your last name was "leave the cat alone". I sometimes wondered how you learned that your name was Starskey.....it must have been early on - before you started doing naughty things. We seemed to have to use the other phrases far more often. We don't seem to have to use them with Ike so much - but then he hasn't been camping yet either.....that comes in another week or so.
I hope he learns his name better soon so that he will come when called. We forget to use his name as often as we should. With you we were just grew to know what you wanted or needed, and you were so used to just following our lead that we didn't have to call your name a whole lot. When the van door opened - you just jumped in and when the golf cart moved - you just hopped on. Ike has all that to learn yet. I'll try to remember to use his name more often so he gets used to it.
This whole thing would be a lot easier with you here to serve as big brother and teacher! Yes, Dufus has been over to check him out but doesn't stick around like he did with you. That is okay with me. I don't want all you boys wandering off together - it seems that Dufus is the only one who can find his way back home again. A kennel will be coming for short term confinement (instead of the cable) but a fence is going up for a play yard so dogs can play outside together and not get in to trouble...or run off.
We're still waiting for you to come home...and still looking for you so that you can come home to us and your new playmate. Wherever you are - tell them it is time for you to go home! Then get yourself here or go to someone who will help you get back here. We love you and miss you. Starskey Come Home!!!!!!!! We are all waiting for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Starskey - you really need to come home soon! There is a playmate for you who is coming to live with us. Somebody needs to teach him the ropes (cat secrets and bell ringing) and tell him what he will get in trouble for - like getting in the road or following Dufus......
He is younger then you but he is about your size. He is a lab mix too so you will have a lot in common. Is it okay if he uses your bed and chews on your toys until you get home? Then you can decide what gets shared and what doesn't.....but you will need to share Dad and me. I'll put Care Bear up - he is your bed partner after all.
NO - I have not given up hope that you will come home. Hope is what I am hanging on to more then anything now. Everyone has looked so hard and kept looking for you for so long that we are all sure that someone has picked you up and taken you somewhere. That should mean that you are being taken care of and for that I will have to be grateful. We still pray everyday that we will get a call or an email from one of the many places you are listed as lost - or from someone who has seen you......WE HAVE NOT GIVEN UP HOPE!
You are loved and always will be......you were our first baby and we learned so much from you about raising a baby and about loving someone with a blank slate for us to write on. You taught us a lot about ourselves as well - and about our true beliefs and abilities to deal with things as they came along. Yeah - I would do a few things differently if I could do them over - but not a lot. There would be a fence - and there will be now. Official dog training might be a good plan too.
Hey - we did pretty well without that all but if there had been a fence - you would not be gone because you would never be outside the fence unless we were with you. You trusted us to take care of you and love you and you rewarded us with your love and your respect. You walked beside me (except on timber adventures), you brought the ball back when I threw it for you, you sat when told, you waited when asked, you shook hands when a hand was offered and accepted treats with great gratitude. You stayed off the upholstered furniture but found that padded lawn chairs were pretty comfortable outside and that pillows on the floor were good inside - as long as they were close to us or in front of the fireplace. You never jumped on anybody!!!! You sat and waited for them to offer a pat on the head or a shake. You were a good boy in the car (except for the phone book thing) and you did enjoy your rides!
See - there is a lot you need to help teach this new guy - and especially about ringing the bell. You don't want Midnight to upstage you on that one! He already did it to me - but you were a lot smaller then and this new fella isn't that small. Midnight might not be much help this time.
He doesn't have a forever name yet. They call him Dwight now - but that just doesn't seem to fit. Should he be Hutch? You'd need to come home for sure then because Starskey and Hutch are a team!!! I get to go pick him up this afternoon but I couldn't do it without first telling you about him.
You disappeared after the first big snow fall in December - and he will come after the last crazy snow fall in April....a little over 1 year since you came to live with us. There is something strange about that but I don't know if it is a good strange or a bad strange.....
I have been going to the Humane Society almost every week and meeting a lot of cool cats and wonderful dogs but couldn't bring myself to pick one yet. Two weeks ago I went over and took my paperwork for them to hold until I had a name to fill in. I kinda thought I would bring home a beagel guy that Phillip fell in love with - so he had a home and Phillip could come see him a lot, but when I got there he had already been adopted....but he did come to Forest City so maybe we'll be able to find him and visit him.
I went and looked at all the puppies....and all my other friends. I do have favorites and some of them were gone (a good thing). There were a couple of other dogs on my mind but I still didn't think there was a perfect one. When I got ready to leave - I put Dwight's name on my application.....I don't know why - something just told me to write his name down. They called last week and said he could be mine - so last Saturday I went and spent some special time with him. He is a really okay dude! You will like him! Some things are just meant to happen the way that they do - and I think this might be one of them......
He is not house trained - so thank you for house training me! I know how to do that now! I have a new timer even. He is getting adult dog teeth so thank you for teaching me to have lots of chewy toys and bones on hand - it saves on the furniture! I put a new gate up to the back room so the cat food is safe - thanks for teaching me that trick too. He is going to need lots of exercise (besides potty walks) so thank you for leaving the tennis balls here.
He is going to need a playmate. I know Dufus will be here - that is the reason I need a fence. He can play with Dufus inside the fence but Dufus will teach him bad things like roaming. You need to come home and be his house and yard playmate and best buddy. Nothing would make me happier then to give you to each other...............
Starskey - come home! There is training to do and playing too!
Gee - I wonder what the cats are going to think of this???? I think the gate to the back room tipped them off that something was happening. This could get exciting and scary! Come on home and tell them everything will be okay!
Garth Brooks has a song that says a lot about love and loss...and everyone can apply it to their own situation or need. For me it is about finding a love and a way and a depth of loving that I didn't know I was even capable of......and then losing that and finding this gaping hole in my heart. Here are the lyrics to the song. I think you'll understand.....
Looking back on the memory of
the dance we shared 'neath the stars alone.
For a moment all the world was right
How could I know that you'd ever say good-bye.
And now I am glad I didn't know
the way it all would end,
the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance.
I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance.
Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I a king.
Bit if I'd only known
How the king would fall
Hey, who's to say you know
I might have changed it all
And now I am glad I didn't know
The way it all would end,
the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance.
I could have missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss the dance.
Yes, my life is better left to chance.
I could have missed the pain but I would have had to miss the dance......
I wouldn't have given up my dance with Starskey for anything. I would not have given up the chance to learn along with him and to play with him and to swing with him and to love him for anything else on earth.
The hole remains in my heart and maybe always will. I still hope to find him but I also hope to begin a new dance with a new pet but it will never be the same. Starskey was the first dog to reach that deeply in to my heart. Maybe that was made easier for him because of all those that came before him.....Missy, Jack, Scooter, Ebony and more. They each blazed a trail that the next one would follow and each got deeper and deeper in to my heart.
Starskey, however, remains special. Not because he has been any different then any other dog I have ever loved - but because he was the first that came to me without first having been on his own or having been alive long enough to develop his own sense of self confidence. He came to me as a baby to be nurtured, trained, loved, trusted, and introduced to the world.
I was proud of our relationship as it grew. I gained self confidence as I taught him things, learned more about him, spent time with him and began to recognise his needs and took the steps to fulfill them. Because he was a companion dog, instead of house guard or outdoor pet, there were things I learned about him that I hadn't learned about some of our other dogs. It was a different relationship and I looked forward to our time together each day.
Taking care of Starskey has never been a chore or a duty. He is my friend, my playmate, my confidant and my helper. He looked up to me to be his pack member and I did my best to fill that role for him. He showed his gratitude by sharing his life with me and by sharing his adventures with me. I would never have dreamed of going mouse hunting on my own - much less had so much fun doing it. Walks around the ponds would have just been walks around the pond if I didn't get to enjoy his discovery of the world around him.
Watching the interaction between Starskey and our cats, Dufus and with other people was also very telling of the kind of dog he was. He was rather submissive, except when it came to his food. Even with the food - he would share his food and his treats after first establishing the fact that they were his to share. He had a weakness (or liking) for cat food so a gate had to be installed and the cat's food put up where they could get at it but he couldn't - but on camping weekends he would often get caught raiding cat food around camp.
Starskey has a gentle soul. He would bathe the campground baby kittens and snuggle them against him for warmth. As fall approached and the nights were cooler the kittens appreciated the ability to snuggle with him near the camp fire - but the baths became an issue as he sometimes got them pretty wet and it was just too cold for that. There was never any aggression toward the cats or kittens and I often wondered what need the kittens met for him. I would watch him push them all over near the fire with his nose and then lay down with them. Did he have gender confusion and think he was a mommy?
No - I would not have missed this dance with Starskey for anything. He has taught me a lot. The biggest things may have been patience and perserverance and perspective. He taught me not to over react or react too quickly and to give him the benefit of the doubt - and I was always rewarded and pleased to see that what I feared could happen was not what was going to happen...........Until that day he went out the door to go pee and vanished.................................
Come on home Starskey - there is more dancing for us to do! I love you!!!!
Oliver Alert uses a quote that goes something like "never give up on something you can't go a day without thinking about" or something to that effect.......Well, I am not giving up and I don't think I have gone an hour without thinking of Starskey. I can't tell you what has made him so special to me because all of my pets have been special and each have their own unique story as well. Maybe it is just because I started out with Starskey as a baby and he blazed new territory and pathways in our lives and hearts and in our home! Okay, it is also because I have no answers.........That is the part that absolutely SUCKS!
I sit here at the computer and look out the window at the porch swing that became such an important part of our day and our together time. It swings in the wind and brings memories of a warm little puppy snuggle on my lap as well as an almost grown dog trying to get on it when it kept moving away. Learning to jump up didn't help much there - the swing still moved and he was not sure if his effort would be in vain or not - but he insisted on swing time daily. I held it still while he got up on it and then we sat together and watched the events on and around the pond.
It was warm enough to use the clothes line yesterday. I missed my helper - well, my audience would be more like it. I found your football Starskey! Your rubber insert survived the winter and is here for you to throw and chase. It was once a real official football that my grandson, Phillip, left here. It was funny to watch Starskey try to carry it in his mouth to whatever spot in the yard he planned to lay on it and try to chew on that leather round thing. Phillip would come over and throw it for him to chase but we quickly figured out that tennis balls were easier to retrieve and haul back to the thrower.
It took Starskey 6 months to finally break that leather shell on that football but it only took him a week to have it completely peeled off - only to find that there was still a round air-filled thing inside. It was made of rubber and not nearly as easy to chew on - but be did manage to get it popped before all his sharp little baby teeth were replaced with the smoother adult teeth. You might wonder what a dog would find fun about a popped rubber football insert........well it is made of something akin to an inner tube.
Rather then trying to rip it to shreds Starskey took greater pleasure in shaking it to death or shaking and tossing it so he could chase after it. He got quite adept at launching it several feet away, requiring him to run after and tackle it to reclaim it. I would watch him play this game with himself for hours wondering whether he was playing with himself, with the rubber football or an imaginary opponent. At any rate - it was an exercise he enjoyed and played alot.
Dufus was here again this morning. He checks out all of the dog houses (we have 3 - assorted sizes) gets a drink from the heated bowl and then inspects the yard. He misses his little buddy. I did find some photos of them together when Starskey was still pretty small....they look funny together but they were best buds.
In spite of his size, Dufus is very gentle and I think Starskey won most of their wrestling matches. Dufus misses you Starskey!
The cats have been acting strange too. Every time I pick up the Starskey toys in the house and put them away in a basket on top of his Pet Lodge the cats get them out again. They don't play with them - they just get them out and put them back where they were on the floor in front of his Lodge....I have given up and just leave them there now. On occasion I will catch Midnight sleeping on the rug in front of the Lodge - the same place he slept when you were inside it sleeping. It took a while but Bugger has adopted the pad in front of the fireplace. She still looks down at it, from her perch on the foot stool, and sniffs the air carefully before actually getting on it. Maybe making sure it is okay..........
Jeff is certain now that I have gone crazy. His patience with my search and my grief is getting much shorter. He says it is time to move on. Move on to what? I still see him go over to Starskey's toys and move them around with his toes (when he thinks I am not looking) and he keeps the water dish full but I bet if I asked him he would say it is because the cats drink out of it too.
Camping season is coming and I don't know what that will be like without you. There is a camp chair by the firepit that is designated as yours. The lawn chairs will be brought out again soon too - and I will be expecting to see a black body curled up on the cushion in the sun. Who will ride in the front seat of the car and on the golf cart? Who will help pick up the branches in the yard and remind the geese which side of the pond is theirs?
Starskey - it is time to come home to all of the ones that love you...................
I think I have gained some weight this past couple of months. I haven't been walking like I used to. Walking alone just isn't any fun and I don't have anyone to bring the ball back to me if I throw it out ahead of me. I am missing my Starskey in more ways then I had been thinking of in my grief. Having him was good for me too. He made it fun to do the things that I really didn't enjoy doing because I usually had to do them alone.
Walking with Starskey is always an adventure. Around the farm we could walk off leash and he could wander a little ahead and to the sides of me as he sniffed around to see who or what had been there since our last walk. Squirrels were always fun to chase up the tree but once he got them up there he didn't know what to do. They would just sit in the branches and cuss at him and he would just look up at them and tip his head and cock an ear and wonder what the heck they were chattering about anyway - he just wanted to play......
Frogs and toads were almost as fun for him to chase as it was for me to watch. Of course if you were going to chase them you have to move the same way they move - you know, hop. Ever watch a long legged dog try to hop? There is this nose that seems to hit the ground first, followed by a head shake and a sneeze (or snort) and the look around to see who saw that - and then he is on the next hop with a similar landing. Eventually one of those close encounters between his nose and the ground will alert him to another scent...............a mouse or shrew.
Okay now mouse tracking is a serious job. You keep your head down and your nose on the scent and you follow that scent even if it leads you in circles. Keep in mind that Starskey is no longer looking where he is going.....his eyes are on the ground in front of his nose and he is seriously following that mouse trail - even if it means running straight in to the mower deck because the mouse ran under it...Ouch! Look around - did anyone see you do that? No, okay back to tracking.
A half mile walk around the pond could actually take us over a mile by the time we have done all the busy things we need to do. We check out all the tufts of grass, give the geese plenty of space (as we walked past their nest), follow a deer trail and sniff some poop. This is just on the way through the yard and across the dam. Then we are in the timber and there are trails all over the place. Mice, raccoon, deer, geese, turkey, opossum, Dufus, Mom, Dad, the kids, squirrels and even a snake or two. The smells are intoxicating and the dead leaves, damp ground and assorted animal poop is perfect for a serious long and twisting roll on the ground. That done it is time to shake it off and head in the direction of home.
Do we continue on the trail around the ponds - or do we dive in to the water and take the short cut? Well Starskey always had that choice but I didn't. I walked the rest of the way around the ponds and sometimes he came with me but sometimes he headed for the water. If he swam he would always meet me on the other side - properly shaken dry and having rolled in clean grass so he was ready for a hug and a rest in the lawn chairs in the sun.
I need to get walking again - with or without my walking partner but it sure would be a lot more fun and a lot more interesting with Starskey to walk with.
Come home Starskey - it is time for our walk.
Good morning all. I thought maybe I should tell you a little about the pack Starskey became a part of. We're pretty diverse and....interesting? Well - the interactions are anyway.
You already know about Jeff and I, and you have learned about Midnight (the better bell trainer) and you have read about the initial potty trainers Pilot and Pokey, but they are only cousins he got to see once or twice a year. He has other cousins he got to visit from time to time - 3 labs and a frenchie/boston cross at my other daughter's house - not to mention a total of 7 grandkids.
Starskey's daily pack was a bit smaller and consisted of the two people who loved him, the tomcat that teased him and two female cats that mostly avoided him......and the Akita, whose real name is Sam but we didn't learn that until we had been calling him Dufus for a year or two. He doesn't seem to mind and answers to both names.
Starskey was curious about the cats - especially the ones who would sit at the top of the steps and look down at him all of the time - but would never come down to play. They interacted very little (when he was awake) and he was really quite oblivious of their presence when he was sleeping or busy chewing on a rawhide or something. The cats, on the other hand, were very curious about Starskey.
No dog had ever been on "their" turf before and this one was about the same size as them - but he was one of those things that moved fast like little kids do - so obviously he was something to be avoided - yet studied. When he was napping they would come down the stairs from the living room to the family room and get a closer look at him. As time passed they would get closer and closer and even sniff him. He seemed to be harmless, in this condition anyway.
Starskey would stir and the girls (Spook and Bugger) would bolt for high ground or hide under a coffee table. He became a source of great interest as they watched him stretch and yawn and rearrange himself on his floor pillow. He still seemed pretty harmless. Eventually though he would wake up and then he would want to play if he spotted a potential playmate and they wanted nothing to do with that.
Starskey and Midnight shared a different sort of relationship. It was one of respect and courtesy. They would sit and just stare at each other for long periods of time. I always wondered what was going through each of their minds as they "stared down" each other. If one moved then the other one did too - but maintained a respectful distance. Midnight would hop up on the couch and Starskey would look at him like "how come you can and I can't". Midnight would lay down and Starskey would lay down on the floor in front of the couch.
As time passed a cat paw would begin to hang over the edge of the couch and Starskey would carefully sniff it. Midnight would open one eye, slowly pull the clawless paw back or give Starskey a slow gentle pop on the nose....not enough to "start" anything - just enough to let Starskey know who he was dealing with and then close his eye and go back to sleep. Starskey would just watch him for a while, cocking his head from side to side and then resume his nap as well.
A sitting cat meant a sitting dog. A slowly moving cat meant a slowly moving dog but a running cat - well that was just and invitation. The trouble was that Midnight ran faster, jumped higher and crawled in to places Starskey couldn't get. I would watch Midnight run from point A to point B and then point C and D leading Starskey on a merry chase about the yard.
Dufus (the neighbor's Akita) had always been a daily visitor at our house, as had his mother before him. He would come over daily to visit our Jack (a Jack Russell mix) and Missy (American Eskimo). When Missy left us (at about age 15) Jack was kind of lost so welcomed visits from Dufus. Jack, however, had been Missy's eyes for her last two years and as her caretaker (and 10 year partner) he was kind of jobless when she passed. We lost Jack in December 2009 to age and grief I think.........but Dufus continued to visit daily and check on us.
Dufus was delighted when Starskey arrived. He kept a respectful distance for the first few days. Starskey was a dwarf next to the height and size of an Akita but Dufus was patient and gave Starskey some time to settle in and then he introduced himself. Talk about a Mutt and Jeff pair - these were the two. Dufus would lay on the ground and let this puppy crawl all over him and then they would roll around together and lay facing each other playing their own version of Rock/Paper/Scissors. Starskey was in heaven to have somebody to actually roughhouse with - and Dufus was a very gentle giant of a friend. I'll have to find some pictures of them together.
Dufus still comes over every morning to see if Starskey has come home yet. He is often here again in the evening, just to check - especially if he has heard the van come or go. He knows how much Starskey loves a car ride!
The pack is here waiting for you Starskey - it is time to come home............
Later...................Lee
So how do you go about house training a puppy when you have never had to do that before? The first suggestion is to get your puppy with some friends who are already house trained and can show him the ropes, so to speak. After about 2 weeks at my daughter's house with her two dogs to help - we had a pretty good start on things. He went out when they went out and he did what they did and then they all sniffed each others jobs and barked to come back in. Loves and atta-boys were given all around. This wasn't going to be too tough.
Now my daughter has her pit trained to ring the bell hanging on the door when she needs out. I don't think Starskey paid a whole lot of attention to that part of the training because he was just too busy running and playing and sniffing and napping. He just followed the routine that Pokey and Pilot had and fit his own to that. Therefore it became a bit of a challenge when we got back home and had to do it on our own.
I had a string of Christmas bells hanging on the doorknob of the back door. That way I knew when someone came and went from the house if I was busy doing something. One day I heard the bells while I was working on the computer and looked up to see no one at my door but the tom cat. I thought maybe the sound had come from the TV so I just went back to work. Then I heard the bell again only louder - and still no one around but Midnight. I shook my head and went back to work.
The damn bell would not stop ringing and it finally got to be more then I could continue to ignore. I got up and walked over to the door to make sure it was closed and the wind wasn't making it move enough to ring the bells. It was shut tight. Midnight looked up at me and meowed so I leaned over and scratched his head then went back to my desk to go back to work again. The damn bell rang again!
Now I know I have a ringing in one ear from a bonk on the head I got several years ago - but this was a bell and it wasn't in my head. I stood by that door looking at those bells and dared them to ring again. A slim black paw reached up and batted the bells then batted my hand. Could that be it? Was the cat ringing the bells? The bells rang again and Midnight meowed and pawed my hand. I reached out and turned the door knob and his nose was in the crack before I could even get it open. I opened it up and out he went.........Okay - that was a lucky guess!!!
The bell rang many more times after that and each time the ring was followed by a meow or Midnight was patting me with his paw to pay attention to him. Smart cat to train himself to ring a bell to get let out when he wanted out. What was even smarter was that he began to knock on the window when he wanted back in. Apparently I don't hear "Meow" very well through a closed window so he figured out another way to get my attention.
So now we come to my half trained puppy that I can't let run around outside all by himself all day and who needed a way to let me know when he needed to go outside if I got too busy to notice "the signs" in time to get him outside before an accident occured. Hey - I have bells on my door and he just spent a couple of weeks with Pokey so surely he knows what the bell is for.......well almost. Good thing there is no rug by the door because - well, we were both still learning.......
I began to set a timer and every hour I would take him to the door and try to get him to ring the bell. He would watch me, cock his head and lift one ear and think "how kool" and just sit there. After a few minutes of bell education I would just open up the door and take him outside. I'd sit in the porch swing while he sniffed and rolled and wiggled and all those fun puppy things until he finally went potty. Then we went back in the house and I set the timer again. He chewed on his toys, scratched his tummy on the carpet and took a little nap. The timer would go off and we would start bell ringing class again.........with pretty much the same results each time.
After a few days of this I began to notice that he would go sit by the door from time to time. I took this to mean progress - Yeah! He would go to the door and I would go to him and try to get him to ring the bell. Still got the same puzzled look from him over the bell but when I gave up and just opened the door he bolted out and wasted less time getting his job done. We were making progress after all......I think anyway.
Well that day does come when I am working on the computer typing up meeting minutes or something and I see Starskey go to the door. He sits facing the door and turns his head to look in my direction. Yes, sir Mr. Starskey - I do see you. Please ring the bell if you want out so I don't have to stop in the middle of a sentance.....instead I hear a whimper. I spring in to action and I go to the door and ring the bell and then open it for him.
By this time he has figured out that the door does not open unless that bell rings first. Now that is major......really! I go outside later to sit in the swing while he plays with his football and drags the branches out of the weeds and finds out that the grass along the edge of the pond has things that jump in it. He is so funny to watch. When he is sufficiently tired we go back in for his nap.
Later I see he is sitting by the door again. I am in the middle of a really good article but I get up and go over to the door. I pick up his paw and I touch the bells with it. He looks at them and at me and just sits there. I pick his paw up and touch the bells again and again he just looks at me and sits there. Now along comes Midnight (still bigger then Starskey) who looks at both of us just standing there and he reaches out his paw and rings the bells. I nod and open the door and let him out and close the door again. Starskey just looks at me, then at the door and then at me like he can't believe I just did that and didn't let him go out too. And then I heard the bell ring as he stretched out his neck and just barely touched the bells with his nose....so I smiled and opened up the door and let him out too.
Just goes to show you what kind of a dog trainer I am.......It took the blasted cat just one demonstration to teach him what I had spent a couple of weeks trying to do. And it only took that one time because from then on the bell rang when it was time to go out for either of them. I am just glad that Starskey did learn to bark to come back in. His paws were sort of big to be knocking on my window!
Later..................Lee
