Peace at last

Proof is important, so here it is: Jack and Eloise asleep under my desk. This is my pet-owner's equivalent to the photo at the top of Mt. Everest. We have reached the summit!

Every day for the past 11 months we have had to stop Jack from chasing Eloise while still letting them have enough contact to begin to get comfortable with each other. Jack is such an alpha dog (or is it just the stubborn hound temperament?) that he really has a hard time toning down his enthusiasm. The minute he sees the cat the chase begins. Of course, telling Eloise to stand her ground has worked about as well as telling Jack "No kitty!" My first hint that we were nearing a break through was when I spotted Eloise waiting to ambush Jack. Crouching just inside my office door she watched as he passed by, then she darted out, swatted his tail, and darted back into the room.

So now that these two black-and-tan furry babies will stay in the same room together and let me work, my problem is how to keep Jack from eating the cat food. I'm hoping Eloise will figure that one out as well.

Bone, Sweet Bone

I began to feel a bit guilty about leaving you with the impression that Jack is "destructo doggie." Afterall, he's only 17 months old and he's learned how to walk on a leash without (mostly) pulling my arms out of their shoulder sockets, how to sit, lie down, and sometimes to even come when he's called. He knows the words "kitty" and "treat," and doesn't always confuse the two.

Jack and the "kitty" are actually developing a friendship. That could be stretching the truth a bit, but I'm an optimist. Jack keeps trying to share his bones with her, and she no longer scratches him and runs away. Jack tosses a chew bone up in the air in front of the cat and then he pounces on it with his rump in the air, waiting for her to join in. She never has, yet.

But today, for the first time since Jack arrived, Eloise, our cat, allowed him to visit her peacefully in my home office. Understand that my office is Eloise's home base. Her turf, her sanctuary. It is where her food and water are kept, as well as her beds (yes, our cat has more than one bed...a soft fluffy one and a curl-up-inside-it-and-hide one) and my office also has her favorite window for watching all those luscious birds she will never catch. I've been waiting for this day of peace making since we brought Jack home from the shelter and finally it arrived. Our puppy is growing up (thank God!).

This is real progress. Today I was able to sit in my office and work with the cat snoozing on top of her bed while Jack snoozed on the floor at my feet. It was a break through moment. If Jack were a human baby I would be whipping out the baby book, teary-eyed, to add the entry "Today Jack stopped chasing the cat."