Mark's Work: "Howdy, Doody!"

Our introduction to Ellie Mae at the Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County, was an exciting event for all, especially Ellie Mae. There were two women behind the counter; one was Adri who had been communicating with Gluten-Free Mama, and the other was taking care of all the foot traffic. Both were answering phone calls.

The Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County

The Black Mouth Cur is a well-muscled rugged herding, hunting and all around utility/work dog, whose coat comes in a number of colors and shades.

What can I say? In our excitement GF Mama and I had been unable to wait. The first day that we could possibly pick up Ellie was Saturday, one week ago today. We had already been on hold for about five days, so when the big day came around, we were in the parking lot at 11:00, when they first opened the doors.

We still managed to wait another three full minutes, before sauntering into the office. There seemed an inordinately large number of cars in the sprawling parking lot. When we announced our mission, there was a calm sense of jubilation, as in what a cool way to start off the day.

The name “cur” is a descriptive term for a general, short-haired, drop-eared, farm and ranch working dog. Black Mouth Curs are primarily herding dogs able to hunt big or small game, but they are also suitable as family dogs. The BMC has a lifespan of 12-18 years.

Also starting off the day were several other folks who drifted through the door in those opening ten minutes. First off was a homeless man seeking to leave a dog he had acquired in his travels. He was earnest, his story, I imagine, must have an all-too-frequent occurrence, and he was urged to follow through with his attempt to get the lost dog into the system. He was sent to the county animal shelter in Ukiah.

A woman brought a huge cellophane-encased basket of fruit and other assorted seasonal goodness, and placed it on the counter to the left of where we were situated. I got the impression it was something to be auctioned off at a fund-raiser for the shelter. It was quite beautiful.

Our Ellie Mae

Black Mouth Curs are great family dogs. They are very social dogs if trained properly. The BMC is an “extremely smart” breed who by nature need to bond a few weeks with their owner/trainer before training can begin. They are also very sensitive dogs that are very attuned to their master’s voice and should never be yelled at in anger or spanked.

I was filling out the four-page application for the adoption, a task that took no more than ten minutes, and one that I was fully prepared to do, having already glanced at it on-line.

Two high school girls came in at this time also, volunteers signing in to work with the residents of the shelter. At some point during the middle of this, shelter-worker Dan brought Ellie Mae in and after a minute, gave the short leash to GF Mama, while I filled out the application. He explained to her that Ellie was "shy" around men, and that he had been working with her, specifically to iron out some of that shy behavior.

This is a Black Mouth Cur, as per Wikipedia

BMC’s make good family dogs as long as they have access to at least an acre of yard and can access it throughout the day. This dog will not be happy spending the day on the couch alone. They are very social dogs and need a human companion and daily routines where they are allowed to sprint.

Ellie Mae was just as her photos had depicted her, and she was understandably over-stimulated. GF Mama hung on for dear life as I finished up business. Maggie had told us that the fee would be $175.00 for everything, but GF Mama and I decided that $300.00 was more like it. There was a great deal of effort on the part of Maggie to sort through all of the available options, to hook us up with an ideal choice.

The net result was that we floated out the front door, with an animated dog who must have sensed that there was a good reason for being joyous. She kept us grounded. The ride home was challenging because Ellie wanted to join us in the front seat, and GF Mama had all she could do to contain her to the back seat.

These are not couch dogs and must have access to several hours of exercise daily to avoid anxiety and depression. The BMC was bred as a homestead dog that would protect its home and family from intruders. This means that a well-bred BMC is territorial. Most BMC’s off their turf work well with other dogs, hunting or herding stock, but on their family property will chase those same dogs away. Their turf can be viewed by the dog as the family’s home, land, truck or sometimes proximity to “their person.”

As we were nearing home, I mentioned to GF Mama that the first thing I was going to do was take Ellie around the yard on her leash after her long car trip. Ah, the best laid plans need to be carried out, in order to be successful.

In the general chaos that accompanies us whenever we first roll onto the mountain, I spaced out my intention as all three of us spilled into the kitchen, GF Mama and I dumping armloads of packages on the kitchen floor, as I unhooked Ellie’s leash.

Why DID I do that?

She blitzed as well as any linebacker in any league, down into our spacious bedroom, and dropped her rear end to the rug. Can you say, “Howdy, Doody?” I know you can, especially when you can see the evidence in front of you and you know it was 100% avoidable.

The BMC is genetically very athletic and eager to please. Given proper guidance and training, a BMC can excel in just about any activity you could imagine. They can herd animals, track or trail game, pull weights, run in a coursing event, work as a Search and Rescue dog, or anything else a smart, athletic dog that wants to please its master can do.

Ellie at the shelter, wagging that tail!

As an aside, that accident has been the one and only transgression of its nature during the first week, and is certainly one which must be blamed on me.

For the first two days, I took Ellie Mae outside on the leash every hour or two, as she “marked” all over our two-acre-or-so fenced-in-yard, and it became clear she would not soil in the house again. I posted http://markyswrite.blogspot.com/2017/11/ellie-mae-or-may-not.html a couple of days ago, and had the funniest/coolest thing happen.

A person named Rhonda, not a friend of mine on f/b (a friend of the Humane Society I assume, since the piece was shared on that wall) commented not once, but twice, that my photos of Ellie Mae bore a striking resemblance to a breed known as the Black Mouth Cur. She urged me to check it out.

Once I had googled the BMC and picked myself off of the floor, I conveyed the information to GF Mama. She was not surprised. She had been repeating over and over that Ellie Mae was smart.

Check it out, though. If we were to have sat down and charted out the qualities in a dog we wanted, besides female, mid-sized and a pleasant disposition, we would have chosen the dog described in Wikipedia as a Black Mouth Cur.

Mind you, we don’t care one way or the other whether it is actually the case; we only know that every facet of this amazing addition to our household conforms to the breed described in italics throughout this piece. She has established a bond with me that rivals any I have encountered with another dog.

We spent nine years intoning that Dozer was totally useless as a farm dog, but highly entertaining. Now we have a dog who is highly useful as a farm dog, and is proving to be an affectionate, desperate-to-please buddy. She will not replace Dozer, but she will more than fill in that aching void in our hearts, left there when our bulldog fled.

We feel as though we have won the lottery.