So my Mom, Aunt K, Aunt D and Uncle J
came to visit.
The first day was a little challenging
because to get to our land, folks (with normal cars) need to dump
their cars far down the road and ride in our truck. Which would have
been fine if our Blazer (which can easily carry our crowd) hadn't
dropped dead. Instead, we had to use the pickup. Me, Quantum and 4
other adults plus two decent sized pits. Can we say crowded?
We let the dogs run alongside the
truck. There was just no way to fit everyone in. Besides it was only
2 miles on a dirt road with no traffic other than us. I was worried
they'd run off and get in trouble, but nope, they followed the truck
with no problem. By the time we were 3/4 of the way there, I could
see Zen tiring. (Black dog on a hot day.) Bushi, on the other hand
was darting off to explore things (flushed birds, squirrels and
rabbits) and circling back to the truck. She didn't even look like
she was breaking a sweat.
It was great! By the time we got home,
the dogs were nicely tuckered out and we didn't have to worry about
the dogs being so “bunctious” that they'd misbehave. They don't
mean to be bratty, but we don't get many visitors out here, and both
of them usually get keyed up when someone comes out here, and they
often want to jump. (And the challenge is that we don't get enough
visitors to effectively train them not to jump.) Plus Zen hasn't
figured out that he isn't a lap dog, and thinks that EVERYBODY wants
kisses.
Then, a day or two ago, Aunt K decided
she wanted to take a walk in the woods. She asked Quantum if Zen
could come along (seemed like he wanted to) and he said sure.
Zen has been growing out of his
boisterousness slowly. As a puppy he was rather much of a brat at
times, and NEVER calm and relaxed when friends came over.
Understand too, that Zen has only
recently started following me around. Oh of course, when we were in
the house, he wanted to be near us. But outside? In the past he was
just so thrilled to be outside and off leash (since he grew up in a
condo and couldn't run wild) that if the two of us were outside
together, it was unpredictable whether he'd stay near me or not. He
might follow me for a while but going off exploring was what he
considered fun.
Part of that's our fault. For the first
9 months we were here, I'd only let him outside if we had him on a
leash. Even here in the middle of nowhere. Rattlesnakes were my
primary fear, but (knock on wood) we haven't seen any yet, and when
we got Bushi last year we finally started getting up the bravery to
let the two of them run together.
A couple months ago he totally changed
his tune about this. Any time I walk out the door now, he has to be
next to me. Three years old and his “guard mode” has kicked in
with a vengeance. What I really didn't expect was that this would
transfer over to other people.
Well not only did he follow Aunt K up
the mountain, he stayed within a few yards of her, and when he
finally gave her the signal that he really wanted to go home (and
wise woman that she is, she got it) he'd run a few yards ahead then
come back and wait for her. She could tell that he really wanted to
be back at the house, but he wasn't willing to leave her alone.
The Aunts and Uncle have gone home
(wish they could have stayed longer!) however Mom's still here.
Rather than staying in a hotel alone, Mom decided she'd stay in our
ex-roommie's trailer. That means no running water and all the
attendant challenges. She's a rugged woman!
Quantum walked her over to the trailer,
and Zen followed. And stood in front of her trailer. Quantum called
him back towards our own trailer and Zen came to him then walked back
to stand in front of the trailer Mom was in. It took him a good
fifteen minutes to decide she was safe until he came back to us.
Today he's been following her all over
the place as she wanders around our property. He stays about a half
step behind her, and has only come in when she does, or when (as
right now) she's sitting in the shade reading a book and he's decided
she's safe for now. (And it's afternoon now, and way hot for a black
dog, again.)
Bushi's always been more independent.
Growing up as a stray dog means she loves to be outside and loves to
roam. She's happy when she's inside with us, but she likes her alone
time. She was also walking with Mom, though she'd take off from time
to time. And Bushi is nearly always super good and obedient, so
forgive me if I'm talking about Zen (my problem child) being good
more than her.
What I noticed is that the two of them
were taking turns. When Zen got too hot, or wanted to check something
out, Bushi would stay with Mom, and vice versa.
I've always known that pit bulls were
called “the Nanny Dog”. Now I get why. Having decided that she is
for some reason his “charge” Zen is totally devoted to her. We
never trained him for this. He just figured it out on his own, and
Quant and I are proud as heck to be his parents.
So our first experiment with having
visitors is a resounding success. I'm thrilled. We have good dogs. We
always knew it, but now it's been proven. Yep, our “vicious pit
bulls” immediately welcomed people into the pack and not only were
polite, but made it their job to ensure that the new members of their
pack were safe and watched over.
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