park walk

Esme and I took a walk in the park today with Lucy.  They both enjoyed it.  Then we stopped at Sweet Jordan's and had some strawberry ice cream which we ate on the way home.

bits

Esme was a bit upset this morning about how the other kids are at school - as in, they don't seem to care or try as much as she does on some things, and when she tries to help or point things out of course they don't appreciate it.  They gave her a nickname she doesn't like - it isn't terrible, but yes she doesn't like it.  I explained to her that both of her parents have been through this, it is part of our personalities that we really can't just 'blend in' and be like everyone else and we never really wanted to, either  - well, not really.. but I get where she is coming from that it hurts to not be like them but it would hurt to be LIKE them, too..

I get some of this pedanticness and process-following and overanalyzing from my dad.  I asked that question of my stepmom a few days ago and she told me that is his 'Modus Operandi'... he analyzes and decides the best way for him to do something (that sometimes is off the wall compared to the usual person's method) and then he does it that way even if it exasperates someone else.  But, he gets it done.  Like my stitching something by hand, or digging the garden with a hand trowel and watering with a bucket.  It might not be the most efficient 'normal' way to do something but it feels best to US so we do it the most 'comfortable' way for us, which has nothing to do sometimes with actual comfort - but with mental processes and 'fit'.

Esme and I did discuss some tactful ways to point out things to her classmates (like not setting your ipad on the floor in front of your locker where it could get stepped on in the meantime, which one girl does and it gives Esme anxiety but the girl does not appreciate being told so) or keeping some things to yourself because you know how you feel about it but maybe the other person just has to learn for themselves if they aren't the type to listen (oh, so often at work, this one).

Mark and I have this trait in common and in opposite - we point things out to each other and if we feel that the added clarity is helpful, we will do it that way, but if it still makes sense to do what we are doing the way we are doing it, we will continue on.  It is nice that we rarely actually argue about things unless they are huge, and that we also often see that 'clarity' in what the other person sees at the moment, and will be 'expanded' by their observations into doing something more accurately, efficiently or with less effort.  It is an amazing quality - kind of like my eating his green Skittles.  *heh* because otherwise he would just throw them out and I actually like lime flavored things where he would go out of his way to avoid them.  Like that 'Same' yet opposite, complementary colors.

I'm on to reading 'Spindlers' today. by Lauren Oliver.

  

 Just before she realized I had the camera.  Sweetie is consoling Lucy because Esme is at school and she is sad.  And, Sweetie kind of likes her anyway, its nice to have a puppy. (Actually Sweetie is Lucy's aunt)

 

And an attempt at dignity after I have the camera *heh*

Esme and I have been building this house in Minecraft - it is really fancy and tall :)

Our Catahoula Schedule Keepers : Lucy

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Niume Post : Lucy and her schedule keeping 

Article:

Living with Catahoulas, you quickly learn they are timekeepers without watches.  They know your schedule better than you do, and many of them are apt to keep you to it.  This story is mostly about Lucy, one of our youngest Catahoulas.  We have six Catahoulas (and a bluetick coonhound), and each person in the household has their own personal timekeeper (my husband has two!).  

This is a wonderful trait for herding dogs that were meant to bring in the cows and pigs at night, and bring them back out to the fields in the morning.  They understand when something is 'wrong', and alert their people to things that are not following schedule.  When things break tradition or schedule, they are genuinely worried and show their distress by nudging, whining and trying to tug or push their people into understanding what needs to happen that hasn't yet.

This is Lucy, one of our youngest pair of Catahoulas, sitting at storytime with our daughter.

But, in a household environment, large or small, a Catahoula timekeeper will be just as insistent.  This is something to be highly aware of when you are training them - or else, they will 'train' you.  There may be no 'livestock' to tend - but they will still insist that their people be up at a regular time, to bed at a regular time and if mealtimes stop happening at a regular time, they will make their thoughts known.  Their aim is to keep everything running smoothly, as much as possible.

Lucy is my daughter's dog.  She assigned herself to that a young age, knowing that our poor Loula (who was hit by a car) had vacated the position and none of the elder dogs had filled the place.  Catahoulas do this, too - in our experience.  They fill niches and assign themselves responsibilities if their trainer has not laid out a specific set for them to learn.  A Catahoula should not be left without guidance, either by an aware and observant trainer or at the very least, a stable environment and an elder dog that has been trained well.

Once a Catahoula thinks you need something (which you may not), getting that out of their mind can be difficult!  Best to train them up well and be aware that you are setting an example and training habits much like you would if a human toddler was watching your every move.  Catahoulas are pretty high on the dog intelligence scale - they learn by watching us, and show great surprise when something goes against the habits they have learned.

Lucy on her way to growing up.  She has two blue eyes and a white with blue merle pattern.  She is one of the more naturally shy Catahoulas we have, although she has had more success to leash training and dog park visits than her sister Freckles has.

Lucy's self-assignment was endearing and simple.  She would make sure our daughter went to bed on time, by escorting her every night along her routine and seeing her to her door.  At that point she was not yet sleeping at her bedside.  We encouraged this by making a large fluffy dog bed for her to sleep on in the bedroom.  Esme, our daughter, encouraged this by reading a short bedtime story to Lucy every night after the rest of the routine, with her invited to sleep upon the pillow.  And now, Lucy goes to sleep there at night, and rises with her every morning. 

Two sisters and a niece.  Lucy is in the middle here, a puppy learning how to do things from her aunts.

Lucy LOVES bedtime.  That is said often in our house.  She will come upstairs to us parents and poke our knees with her nose and turn in a circle - indicating something must be done.  She will do this with increasing frequency as the actual hour of bedtime approaches (daylight savings time messed her up, as she is sort of sunset-based).  She will continue to pace and bob between our daughter and us every fifteen minutes or so.  When ignored she will sigh and curl up in a ball or place her nose on her paws at the exact place between us, ready to spring to action when we do.  She puts on a very good 'depressed' attitude when bedtime is being later than she thinks, like on school breaks.  When the routine does begin she guides our daughter through each step, pointing to the next thing and sitting in the hallway outside the bathroom.

But Catahoulas follow our habits, as well as our schedule.

This morning, even I was surprised.

It is Pajama Day at school today.  And our daughter was wearing her Pajama outfit to go to her class party.  Lucy was confused.  Normally Lucy has a morning routine she follows to the letter.  She will get up, wait for our daughter to get dressed, and then she will be let outside the room and collect her sister to stand together and ask to go outside the house to the yard.  Then they both return to the house and go upstairs to curl up with their mother on the couch.  It happens this way so much I barely notice it anymore.

But this morning, Lucy saw something that made her wonder, and she did not return upstairs.  Instead, she came back and sat outside the bathroom in the hallway pointing at our daughter's room.  Our daughter had eaten her breakfast and was brushing her teeth.  Lucy walked up to her and traced her nose on the back of her knee, inspecting the pajama outfit.  She then returned to her place in the hallway and sat.  After a few moments I realized there were gears turning in that furry head.

Lucy thought our daughter was going back to bed, and she was waiting for her duty.  In her mind, she was still needed.  

I tried not to laugh when it dawned on me. (Catahoulas get quite embarrassed when they are laughed at, a little like cats.)

Lucy (right) and her sister Freckles (above) with their brother Hunter.  Freckles has assigned herself as 'Timekeeper in training for house activities' to my husband, understudy to her uncle Spud.

Even funnier, was when I told her that no, in fact, she was not going 'bedtime', but to the school bus.  Lucy pointed again - nose to girl - nose to bed, sit square on her haunches.  I said it again, so she was certain, and asked my daughter to tell her as well.  No Bedtime, School Bus.  Lucy whined and turned in a circle.  Then she went upstairs, but not to lay down.  A moment later two noses poked around the bathroom door edge.  She had gotten her sister Freckles to come see.  I told them both - with more whining and doubletakes.  Finally, they both went upstairs.  I'm sure they were shaking their heads in dog language.

We all had a good laugh about it - except the dogs, of course.

So, Catahoulas are the timekeepers.  But sometimes, humans do the strangest things, and even they don't know what to make of it at all.  It's another reason I am so enamored of these dogs we have bred and come to know over the many years here in Tennessee.

If you haven't had a pair of Catahoulas - (and one just isn't enough to see it all) - it really is a whole different kind of experience.

Dog bed and Storytime for pup

Lucy on her new dog bed, being read to by Esme

Esme has had her trained to come sleep on a blanket on her floor when she calls Storytime at night.  Then Lucy will sit beside her as we pass the book back and forth.  Sometimes, when we read upstairs, she comes and puts her chin on the bed upstairs and begs to come up and supervise.  That's her job!  

About a week ago Lucy stopped sleeping all the way through the night down there - lonely, uncomfortable or just too cold?  Esme wanted her pup to be more comfortable, so she asked Santa's reindeer to remember Lucy this year and get her a dog bed (among the other things that were on her 'extra' list the night before - which Mark and I collaborated on and actually made).  Now it has her blanket thrown over the top of it and she is sleeping there happily.

Tonight they are reading the Magical Animal Fairies series - and probably back onto Droon in a week or so.