Adventures with Olive

With Olive there is always a story . . . jumping out of a moving car, getting into the chicken coop at the farm on Easter and killing the family's 12-year old pet hen, figuring out how to open the gate to the fence, running head first into a wall wet with paint. A year in the life of Olive? No, those things happened just this past week. My mom, who has yet to meet Olive, looks at me with concern and asks if we are worried we have a "problem" dog. What I try to explain is that all of these stories are demonstrations of Olive's overflowing enthusiasm for living. Well, that and an unwieldy combination of cleverness and clumsiness that Olive has perfected. Yes, we have to be a bit more attentive given her spirited approach to everything, but she is also the world's mellowest dog preferring to sprawl out (and I mean sprawl - all three legs fully extended, head out, tail out - evidently a position preferred by tripods) on the couch, bed or floor than to chew anything. It is her capacity for adventure her innocent precociousness that are part of her very being and what make her such a remarkable dog.

Tongue Thermometer

There is something about Olive's tongue that I haven't seen in other dogs before - the way it mimics her mood. A thermometer of joy; the happier she is the more her tongue extends and flops from side to side. It happens the instance the car pulls up to the dog park. Her soft pink tongue which once laid discretely in her mouth as she dozed on the ride over immediately races out as if she can greet the grass, trees, and other dogs more quickly by sticking out her tongue. But it does not just simply extend forward in a pant-filled greeting as will most dogs. Moved to ecstasy, it cannot be controlled and soon begins to dangle to the side and with each hop she takes it is propelled up lashing the side of her face. A happy puppy is a puppy with a tongue flopping up the side of her face, covered in drool.

Training ... For Olive and Us

Turns out Olive loves to learn as much as her mom! Well, it's either that or she loves hot dogs. Hmmmm ... I think it might be the hot dogs. We started obedience classes last night with our sweet Olive. She was such a good dog. She sat and waited between each lesson and was able to get everything except "down". Turns out a tripod does down by flopping on her side, and this command requires a forward motion. So, we've decided it's not the most important command. Oh how she loves hot dogs. We had a baggie full of hot dog bits and her little mouth would start quaking and chattering while waiting to be rewarded. After seeing the unruly dogs in our class we came home with a renewed appreciation for Olive. Olive came home exhausted and promptly fell asleep and slept through the night! She hasn't done that in weeks.

Of course, obedience training is just as much about how Kevin and I act. We learned so much and are excited for our future lessons. Olive is already responding to me differently. Though that might be because I'm now "The Hot Dog Lady", but I'm going to stick with the idea that it's because I'm interacting with her differently and in a way she can understand.

Napping with Gusto

Olive has an uncanny ability to plop down and sleep anywhere. And plop she does, there just isn't a lot of grace with a three-legged lab. No matter how she lands or flops, she'll make due and settle in. She's happy as long as she's with some member of her pack.

The Pack

I've always had just one dog. I first experienced the special qualities that dogs bring out in each other when they are part of a pack when I brought my dear Scully over to my boyfriend’s house to play with his dog, Bisou, when we first started dating. Scully had never been a big fan of other dogs. In Bisou though, she found a helpmate and companion in her last year. She found a renewed enthusiasm and energy for the simple things and in that I believe we had her with us for a several extra months. Bisou helped lead the way bringing her outside, making mealtime exciting, and walking, while she could, a family event.

After Scully passed away in January, we decided it would be best to wait until Spring to get a new dog. Getting another dog was never in question. I couldn’t be without a dog to call my own and Bisou was clearly depressed being left with only a pack of felines to hang with. But soon it was clear all of us couldn’t wait that long and then there was Olive.

The bond that these two have is something that heartens me everyday. While Bisou gently asserted herself as the alpha dog, she is something of a friend and big sis to Olive. She shows her the way … how to ask to go outside, how to eat ice cubes, how to listen to mom and dad, how to guard the house, how to chase the cats. Olive has brought out Bisou’s playful side. They wrestle gently each morning on Olive’s bed while they wait for us to get up, relish in playing tug with the rope toy, and chasing each other round the back yard or playing ball at the dog park. Bisou is entirely accommodating of Olive, just as she was with Scully. Olive is easily tipped off balance while playing tug, so Olive just lies on the dog bed or the floor and Bisou is happy to tow her around the house. Bisou lets Olive lay down across the entire back see on car trips and is carefully not to knock her over when then run around the dog park.

It is an example of community we all can learn from.

Rescue Dogs

Is there something unique about rescue dogs? Tales are told of special qualities that these dogs inhabit; a gratefulness, a loyalty, a relief. I haven't been around enough rescue dogs to know this is unequivocally true, but what I do know is all of these dogs possess special stories that are heart-breaking, irresistible, and inspiring. Olive is one of those dogs. And what I can tell you is that all I have heard is true. I look at the picture of her when she first arrived at our house and she wears a look of worry that I haven’t seen on her face since. I remember how she, with embodied relief, climbed onto the couch and slept the sleep of a dog that has been boarded for weeks in a crate with no couch or person to call her own. And now, a month later, she seems a different dog. Still wonderfully spirited, but there is an ease about her now—a deep relaxing into home.

Escape from Alcatraz

Well, it lasted just about one week. After finding that our Dear Olive has a bit of separation anxiety that causes her to eat and destroy all sort of things (see the list to the side) we purchased a kennel which she willing went into when we left. Yesterday, I had to leave something for pick-up on the porch and we think it was this excitement to motivate our crafty canine to break out of her kennel. Sigh. We're giving it a go again today, so we'll see how it goes!