[Dailydrool] Charlotte the Temp

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

As if we haven't had enough excitement in our lives lately what with  
traveling to Arkansas and east Texas at the absolute hottest time of  
the year, worrying about Lola surviving her bout with hemorrhagic  
enteritis, and hosting Jennifer's third dog Chloe to allow Jennifer  
to have more time to give Lola the care she's needed, we're now  
fostering the little outside dog who used to belong to my in-laws-- 
until she killed twelve of their chickens.

My in-laws called this dog JJ, a name I dislike. Ken wanted to call  
her Temp, as in Temporary. I finally settled on Charlotte. To let Ken  
know I understand he doesn't want this dog to stay forever like young  
Charlie, a foster failure, did, I've been calling her Charlotte the  
Temp. It's not a bad thing to have a temp in one's life. You can  
blame a lot of stuff on a temp. The photocopier's jammed again? Must  
have been the temp who did it. There's a mess in the corridor? Had to  
have been the temp. And just when you get a temp trained the way you  
like, they head off to a permanent position in another company. I  
temped for three years, so I know how these things work.

Those who read my first post about this dog last month will remember  
that my mother-in-law dropped her off at the local no-kill shelter  
within minutes of finding the dog with chicken feathers in her mouth.  
In my mother-in-law's world, it's all about the chickens. The shelter  
was full at the time, so they asked my mother-in-law to board her at  
the vet's until space was available. While Charlotte was at the vet's  
it was discovered that she hadn't had any of her shots past the  
second puppy shots and she wasn't on any heartworm preventive.  
Fortunately she was found to be heartworm free, and she's on  
preventive now. When I got her to my vet's, I discovered that the  
first vet had given her only her rabies shot and none of the others.  
Charlotte also had a long-standing yeast infection in both ears.

The shelter was happy to put a reserve on the dog for me, and I was  
happy to hear that they're aware of my in-laws' habit of getting  
pound and shelter dogs, letting them loose in a yard of free-range  
fowl, and then returning the dogs to the shelter after the dog has,  
predictably, killed one or more chickens, guineas, and/or peacocks.  
The woman I spoke with said she asked my mother-in-law when she  
surrendered this latest dog if it would be possible to pen up the dog  
or pen up the fowl, and my in-laws aren't willing to do either. My  
mother-in-law lives for her chickens, my father-in-law wants to have  
a dog that follows him around their multi-acre property, and neither  
of them want to make concessions. I continue to be frustrated with  
how they set their dogs up for failure and then act surprised every  
time a dog starts killing the fowl.

I don't know how the shelter will handle it when they come in for  
another dog, but it's going to happen before too long. This time my  
father-in-law wants to get two puppies. He thinks he can train them  
to not go after the chickens because they'll be too engrossed in  
playing with each other all the time. My husband tried to remind him  
that that's not how it worked when he brought home Charlotte, who  
arrived as a puppy with another puppy. His dad wants to blame Saint  
Sally, the fifteen-year-old dog who was their first dog and is one in  
a million because she'd never think to touch a chicken. According to  
my father-in-law, Sally was too old when he brought home the many  
other dogs who've failed the Fowl Test. My husband tried to remind  
him that he started bringing home "replacements" for Sally to train  
back when Sally was a still lively seven or eight, but his dad  
doesn't remember that. He also doesn't remember trying as many dogs  
as we remember. Oh, well. We've done the best we can. It's the  
shelter's problem now.

A fellow Drooler very kindly stopped by the shelter to pick up  
Charlotte for me on her way through Arkansas back to Nashville. By  
that time, Charlotte had been in the shelter about a month. We had  
her about three days, and then we had to park her with the Drooler  
for the nine days we had to be away. I picked her up last Thursday,  
and since then we've been working on things like housebreaking,  
focusing on her own dinner at mealtimes (she's easily distracted),  
not jumping on people, learning about toys, and so on.

She's doing very well, considering all the transitions that have been  
forced on her in such a short period of time. She's thoroughly  
enjoying living in the Big House, with the exception of the whole  
crate thing. She's not happy about having to sleep in her crate at  
night. She'd much rather be on the bed with us, and she lets me know  
it several times a night. Thanks to my allergies and a strong desire  
to not have to fight any dog for covers or space on a bed, this,  
unfortunately for her, is not an option.

So far, though, with the exception of a small puddle by the washer on  
Friday morning, Charlotte hasn't had any accidents and is using the  
doggie door like a pro. I would rather she didn't try to lick me all  
the time. I hate being licked and have always disliked having my face  
wet. My guess is that the licking is a sign of anxiety and the desire  
to show that she's willing to be submissive, and I'm hoping this  
behavior will disappear as she feels more comfortable with us and her  
new life as an indoor pet instead of a yard dog. If anyone has any  
training advice for putting an end to the jumping and licking,  
though, I'm all ears.

Elizabeth