Mark's Work: Eau de [Boot] Parfum

This is the seventh in a series on Ellie Mae, in which Ellie Mae receives a progress report.

Christmas Day will find Ellie Mae having been in her new home for exactly one month, so I felt a progress report was in order, for those who like to keep track of these things. There are considerably more categories I could have chosen to examine, but some folks may feel that I am jumping to conclusions for attributing the San Francisco Forty-Niners’ current three-game win streak to [Lucky] Ellie Mae’s joining us.

Whatever.

Let's take a peek at the first Progress Report for Ellie Mae ONeill (In alphabetical order)

“Accidents”……………….… A+

Barking………………………… B

Basic Commands 101………. B

Boundaries: ………………….. A-

Conduct……………………….. B

Effort …………………………. A

Getting along w/others…… A

Home Security: ……………… A

Separation Anxiety: ………… C

Sleep-Time…………………… A

Willingness to Learn: ……… A+

Grade Point Average: 3.545, which entitles Ellie Mae to a spot on the Honor Roll, with distinction.

In the order that the assessments were given, I will make brief commentary on each, beginning with in-house accidents, what is generally a dog owner’s biggest or least problem. Rarely is there any in-between. Except for the one incident that I documented in my second piece of writing on our sweet rescue dog, “Howdy, Doody!” Ellie Mae has been perfect.

That being said I will be frank here: For the first week never more than an hour went by during the day, without me escorting Ellie Mae outdoors, either on the leash or not. Invariably she marked at least one or two spots, and was praised highly for it.

Emma, Ellie Mae and Margie, BFF's

Each morning since she arrived, I have accompanied a leashed Ellie Mae up onto Bell Springs Road for a bit of a romp, each day’s walk lasting close to a half-hour. Without fail, during this daily migratory expedition, Ellie finds a convenient spot to do a doody, and she never fails. I have no idea what kind of training Ellie has had for being in the house in the past, but she has been a gem.

Ellie Mae earned a B in Barking, because she does a good job of balancing her need to inform us of visitors, and the ability to not go overboard. The only reason she did not earn an A is because of one specific night’s unexpected outbursts, which had a negative impact on Gluten-Free Mama, who needs her sleep to help battle her health issues.

No one expects Ellie Mae to remain silent in a neighborhood populated with dogs. Emma the farm dog, right up the driveway a football field or so, serenades us regularly and Ellie almost never acknowledges this. This is unlike the recently departed Dozer, who used to respond enthusiastically. Mind you, we could not hear Emma-just Dozer could.

Basic Commands earned Ellie a B because she does a good job overall, considering she may have had no training whatsoever. However, she still has that middle school joie de vivre, which occasionally rears its mischievous head, and causes her to, well, falter.

She may want to remain outside for that extra two minutes, or it may be the look she gives me, after she comes into view dragging one of my useless steel-toed boots. She knows it is not her chew-toy, she knows I am going to say, “Leave-it,” in a different tone of voice than normal, and she knows she should do something to rectify the situation.

But dang it all, you’re only a dog once, and that boot exudes such an overwhelming “fragrance,” that she just can’t help herself. It hasn’t really mattered for almost two years now, because I can’t get the boot on my right foot, anyway, due to some technical difficulties with a problem toe.

For her A- in Boundaries, there were two indiscretions early on caused by a faulty fence, but since then Ellie Mae has been content to remain within her two-acre yard. She spends most of her outside time responding to the critters she hears outside the fence, including a big cat a couple of days ago.

I was loading firewood into a wheelbarrow out front, when I heard Ellie Mae emit a purely hound-dog wail. Looking up I instantly saw the tawny mountain lion, tail flapping in the breeze behind her, indicating this was not a bobcat.

Emma the Great Dane mix, was furiously pursuing the lion, barking up a hurricane as she did so, but the cat was already half way up the hill from the creek bed on the other side. Emma was just jumping the creek, so it was no contest. I wanted to ask Emma if she was familiar with “Where the Red Fern Grows,” but she was busy.

Nonetheless, it just illustrates that much of what Ellie Mae knows and senses, I do not have a clue. I know she responds to the deer, ground squirrels, tree squirrels, jack rabbits, ravens, and wood peckers. We also have foxes, wild boars, bears and badgers.

I think Ellie Mae does just fine in the barking department.

In Conduct Ellie earned a B because again, she does a good job. She is still somewhat of a stranger in strange land, and I give her big ups for adapting as well as she has. But there are lots of nooks and crannies in her new home that bear investigating, not all of them appropriate for a little doggie.

In Effort there was no contest; Ellie wants so badly to please, it is palpable. One glance into those limpid eyes and my heart melts. Every time. She is trying so hard to be the good girl that it is impossible to get salty when she has hits a speed bump.

Getting along... btw, the black lump to Ellie Mae's
right, is a dead bat, Toby's contribution...

Getting along with others? A Zounds! Ellie wants to play with her friends Emma and Margie so badly, that she is a model citizen when around them. She can also run circles around them.

On the other paw, Ellie must contend with Toby, Mr. Crips and Shirley, three country cats who have been around the block more times than I can shake a stick at. After all, they also must deal with mountain lions, bears, badgers and wild boars, when they are not dodging Ellie Mae. Yesterday, though, Ellie Mae went out onto the front deck where Type A-Personality, Toby, was sunning himself on the petite red deck chair.

As Ellie Mae approached Toby and paused, the Tobester actually rolled over on his back and STRETCHED luxuriously, pointing his front paws up into the sky in a blatant display of nonchalance. Ellie Mae took her cue and drifted past without so much as a glance. I was so proud!

Home Security? A She does an excellent job of giving us notice of visitors, without going overboard. She loves people and responds to a friendly hand with appropriate appreciation.

Ellie’s only C corresponds with her own insecurity due to her former life. I have responsibilities that involve my having to traipse off and leave Ellie behind. Gluten-Free Mama informed me the other day that Ellie whined and paced for an hour before she settled down.

I was over at SmallBoy’s spot, building a little front deck for easy ingress and egress of their home. I could not take Ellie Mae with me because there is no fence. Whereas I am convinced Ellie would not have strayed, I was not able to give her my full attention, so I elected to leave her home.

I am sure the next time will go better.

Ellie tolerated her bath.

Ellie’s strongest point has been her golden behavior at night, with one small indiscretion that I mentioned. That and her willingness to learn, which is something we are going to develop with the beginning of obedience school in January.

Except for Separation Anxiety, our Miss Ellie Mae excels when it comes to her first progress report, and I am delighted to pass on the good news. Each day she shows improvement in her challenging areas, and we are dazzled.

I know the progress report is a bit over the top; I guess it’s just force of habit. I have high expectations for Ellie Mae, just as I always did for my middle school students, and I have always found that my students will rise to the level of expectations.

If I ask Ellie Mae to jump, I am sure she would look at me with those eyes of hers and ask, “How high?”