Protecting Resources

Like Storm Troopers, Blondie and Chi-Ping tore out of Adri’s van in search of the dog, whose scent gave her away the moment the girls pulled in the driveway after two months of being at Amigos de Los Animales Shelter in Pinones. Within seconds they were on her, stinging her with nips driving her to the garage at the bottom of the driveway before coming to my call, which sing halleluiah; they came.

A perpetually full bowl of food for over a year has changed Blondie in that she no longer stands over the bowl to protect it. Blondie still alerts when Chi approaches the bowl. If Blondie remains tense with eyes focusing on her, Chi-Ping knows of Blondie’s disapproval, which means walk away, and sneak back later to Chi-Chi. Today Blondie exhaled audibly, turned her head away, and laid down. Chi stopped, picked her head up, looked at Blondie, a tiny cock of her head, and then Chi-Ping strode to the dish knowing she had Blondie’s approval. It was the first time I’ve ever seen her give Chi-Ping anything more than covert approval, which always looked like eat, if you must, but I’m not going to like it.

The effect of being hungry stays with you for a long time. You never want to feel that again. It’s a motivator. Blondie protects her resources with gusto, so Adri rescuing the little Chihuahua trumps me working with Blondie to accept small creatures she can shag out of the neighborhood in a heartbeat. I have my hands full at the moment with my husband recovering from surgery.

I would say that she pushes out the smaller dogs, but Blondie never bothered with Chi-Ping when she tumbled on to the hill. Stormy, our first Sato, was a small Border Collie. She adored him. Figuring out what pushes the buttons, that’s the challenge. Hey-ho, dogs be with you.