The First Days

February 22, 2015

“Gosh, this place smells incredible!” Jo’s nose was going a mile a minute. Elbie didn’t reply, as his nose was plastered to the ground, the better to inhale all the different odors. He lifted his leg, and Dad hollered, “NO!”

Too late. Elbie’s quick that way.

We were at the Nebraska Humane Society’s Training Center, to meet a little grrl dog that Mom told us was in need of a home. Auntie Sheila was there, too. We had plenty of time to sniff and explore, and then the double doors opened, and in crept the scardiest, most shivery, scrawny little pup ever. She’s black with a splash of white down her chest, and she has four little white feet. The ladies who brought her in called her Winnie, but Mom and Dad have decided that her name will be Lucy.

Jo just knew she was trouble. “Who are you, and what - hey! Don’t put your nose there! That’s not polite!”

Elbie tried to ignore everything else, and just kept on smelling.

Long story short, that’s the way Lucy became part of our family. Auntie Sheila drove her back to Lincoln, because Mom figured there might be some tension in the Dogmobile on the way. Once we got home, Auntie Sheila brought Lucy to the back yard, and we were able to get to know each other a little better. We're still not sure we like her.

February 23

Mom stayed home today because it was Lucy's first whole day with us. In the afternoon, Mom decided she was going to go to the gym and work out, so she tried an experiment. She gave us all Going Away Treats, as usual (this time it was chicken jerky - YUM), put Lucy in her crate (which used to be Star’s crate) shut the door and off she went. It was only going to be for an hour or so.

Just about when the Dogmobile hit the street, poor Lucy went into a panic. JoLee turned from the front door, where he had been watching the Dogmobile pull away.

“Lucy - really, there’s nothing to worry about! Mom will be back soon.”

Banging sounds came from the crate, and the pan on the bottom edged out just a bit. “NO! NO! I’m going to be in here forever! This is my fourth home in 5 months and I just know I’m going to be shut in here forever!” Lucy started gnawing on the blanket that was in her crate, and then reached through and started pulling the rug that the crate sat on in through the bars.

JoLee laid on the floor in front of Lucy’s crate and tried to reason with her.

“Lucy, really, it’s going to be okay. Mom crate trained me when I was a puppy, and look - I’m out here, free as a bird.”

“Yeah, and I never even had to be crate trained - I did it all on my own,” Elbie said, smugly, from the couch.

“I don’t believe you!” Lucy cried. It was pitiful, really.

When Mom got home, the pan from the crate was halfway across the living room floor. The first thing Mom did was let Lucy out of the crate. The second thing she did was gather up the blankies and rugs and put them in the wash - Lucy had peed all over them and there were bloody marks on them from where she had chewed on the bars of the crate.

“That’s disgusting, Lucy,” Elbie said. “Why would you soil your crate like that?”

“I - I’m sorry,” Lucy said, hanging her head. “I was just so . . . scared!”

Jo reached out and gave her a lick on the nose. “Well, but what did I tell you? I told you Mom would be back - and she is.” Lucy leaned on him, and Jo growled. “Now, follow me out the dog door if you have any business to do!”

February 24

The next day Mom went to work and Lucy was left out. Mom did throw a Going Away Treat in the back of Lucy’s crate when she gave Jo and Elbie their treats for going into their crates, but she decided that Lucy had been so unhappy the previous day, she would risk property damage, rather than causing further damage to little Lucy’s psyche. Lucy had no problem going into her crate for the chicken jerky!

When Mom got home at lunchtime, the only thing Lucy had destroyed was a purple scrubby thing - and get this: today, Lucy learned to go out the dog door (coming back in is another matter).