The DH (Designated Human)

This is the fifth in a series of posts on Ellie Mae, a sweetheart of a dog who is rapidly filling that void in our home and our hearts, with the unscheduled departure of Dozer the bulldog. 

Even the cosmos is cooperating with the adapting of our recently acquired Ellie Mae, to her new surroundings. The weather has been idyllic these past couple of weeks, from the perspective of those who like balmy pleasant days, and nights that remind one of summer. Four years ago this week, we had frigid temperatures here on the mountain, bottoming out every night somewhere in the teens.

The line from the spring froze, of course, and did not thaw for two weeks. GF Mama and I bailed out to Willits, back in the time period when we had our little Pine Street Motel.

Breathe on it and it will hit 70 degrees,
and it's only 11:45 in the morning.

These days the thermometer is hitting 70 sunny degrees during the day, and staying in the fifties at night. Say what? I can hear the folks from the ‘Ville screaming, “It was 22 degrees down here last night. Where do you get 'in the fifties?'”

It’s that old inversion principle, where the days are warm and the nights chilly, so the cold air sinks to the valley floors and forces the warm air upwards.

Having the weather be so pleasant allows me a great deal of flexibility when it comes to permitting Ellie Mae the freedom and opportunity to do her sprints, day or night. This facet of her exercise is the first thing I noticed (OK, fixated on), when we first introduced her to her new home, because it is so extreme.

She tears back and forth across the expansive yard, as though chasing a deer, a couple of squirrels, and just for good measure, a wild boar. She races frantically, as though she has been confined for the last 23 hours of the day, and this is the 24th. 

It's a dog's life...

Seriously? An hour ago, I heard her barking in response to Emma the dog, up the driveway a stretch. I hollered, “Ellie Mae, come!” and was gratified to see her jets kick in, and then the after-burners, as she hurtled towards me, the five front steps, the ten feet of decking, and the wide-open kitchen door. She leaped the steps without touching them, landing gracefully on the front deck, where she took one bound before hitting the 20-foot-long kitchen. 

There was no braking system ever devised, through nature or by Man, which could have allowed Ellie to accomplish what she set out to do in the amount of space provided. Desperately, she went into a tail-first slide as perfectly executed as any that Hunter Pence could have pulled off on the baseball diamond.

Ellie slid from halfway into the kitchen, until the far side, where she ground sheepishly to a halt, stylishly reclined on her left side, so that she faced me, while locking eyes. 

Safe! 

Scrambling to her feet, she hustled over and “sat” in front of me, as if to say, “Well, you said to come!” And of course, Nancy would be appalled. Ellie Mae must learn to enter the house-or pass through any door-as a properly-trained young dog ought to, without endangering the life and safety of her designated human. Wait. A DH, just like in baseball? 

Go figure.

And that ear!
I'm trying to train mine to do the same...

The big news is that Gluten-Free Mama and I took Ellie Mae down to the complex in Ukiah, to have the Pro from Dover, Nancy, give her a look-see. During the hour-long consultation, we filled Nancy in on how Ellie was adapting, while she assessed the progress Ellie Mae has already made.

We have been working with seven basic commands of, sit, come, stay, place, off, down, and Leave it. The last is one that we had already implemented before we got The List, so we decided to keep matters the way they were. 

Nancy seemed pleased with what she saw, and towards the end of our session, she asked if we thought Ellie might respond well to walking up an inclined ramp, and then down the other side. She used little treats to entice Ellie Mae, and found that Ellie was more than up to both the treats and the task(s). Our Ellie may be a candidate for agility training!

The bottom line is that Ellie Mae was deemed an excellent candidate for the obedience classes being offered in Willits, beginning in January. Meanwhile, Gluten-Free Mama and I will continue to work with the basic commands.

In this way we can use the classes for the dual purpose of not only training her to do as we ask, but to get her accustomed to being around other dogs without going into her act.

AGILITY TRAINING?!?
Hand me a dog treat and I'll show you agility...