I have a hard time imagining that I would have any other rules and routines if I had another dog – it will show the day Ella is gone and I share my life with another dog. But rules and routines provide structure, regardless of whether you are a dog, katt, human or anything else. I don't have super many rules that are overly clear, but the ones I have, hasn't budged a millimeter since the day Ella came into my life.
It actually plays It doesn't matter what dog you have, but there are certain things that I think are important to maintain the dog's calm before certain moments. In a nutshell, there are three scenarios where I want Ella to be calm and composed, because it will be so chaotic if she isn't.
Mat
When I do in order Ella's food, she sits on the other side of the threshold into the kitchen (in the hall, in other words) and watching. And, provided that none of the cats poops or vomits at the time, of course, because then she has to go there at once and clean. She's kind that way, my dog (not to mention disgusting). But as said where; when the food is prepared, she must sit there and wait – calm and composed, until I say go ahead.
I would snap of whether she tailed around my feet and chattered as I poured out food and supplements to serve. Sewing, it's not a scenario I want to experience.
Inside out
When we go on walk and when we come back in we have a couple of routines I never ever deviate from. Already, if Ella has said that she needs to go out because she has an upset stomach (the only time she speaks up) – then I have to hurry and she has a hard time keeping calm. But beyond this, we have the same routine every time.
When it's time to go out and I start to dress, Ella will sit by the door and wait. Now she is lying down, because she is stiff and in pain, the poor thing. But that is her position. It should be calm and composed. I get dressed and then put her collar/leash on, and then we go out. Is she stuck up in any way, we are waiting.
When we go out through the gate, she will sit and wait calmly and calmly while I open the door. I stand there until she looks at me, then I say go ahead and off we go.
Similarly we do when we come in. And, not through the gate, but when we enter the apartment. She will wait while I undress – then I take off her collar/leash. She is usually calm and collected in the way I want, but is she too busy keeping an eye on the litter boxes (if one of the cats poops) can she wait until the cat is done and she has calmed down.
Picking poop
This can sound like the world's most ridiculous rule, but I introduced it because I don't want a dog that bounces around and is rude while I pick up poo. This rule is especially good in the winter when it's slippery and I don't feel like slipping because Ella will jerk the leash when she sees a hare, katt, bird or another dog, a person she knows and likes – or something else that triggers an unwanted jerk.
The rule I think on is that when I pick up poo after Ella, she must sit calmly and calmly and wait. She does that because she is a candy rat and because she gets a liver cut when she has been good.
…
Then there is a couple of things where I wish I had been better at consolidating my leadership to a greater degree than I did. What I think about then is above all when we are at home and someone rings the doorbell. Ella has a tendency to bark like crazy, and when there's someone she recognizes on the other side of the door, she gets so excessively, extremely, fucking über-enthusiastic that it's hard when impossible to control her happiness. I realize that most of you reading probably think this is a minor problem that should be easily remedied – but you haven't met Ella.
Ella happens as well as being a high-energy dog, also an extremely happy dog. It takes her less than a thousandth of a second to ramp up to the mild degree that it's almost impossible to bring her back down to a manageable level. I suspect that if she got an outlet for her willingness to work in the way she was bred for, would this be easier to handle, but as it is, I have not found any good means of controlling her excessiveness, pushy and extreme expressions of joy when people she knows come and ring the doorbell.
…
As said was – these are some of the rules/routines we have here at home, like never, throughout Ella's life, has changed. I'll probably come up with more as time goes on, but for now it will have to do.
Tomorrow thought I write a little about Ella's old age and what it's like to live with an old dog.