It's A Dogs Life

Rocky and Bullwinkle are my 2 maltese dogs. They are 6 years old now and as cute as the day I got them. To say they are spoiled would be a gross understatement. However, it is impossible not to spoil them becaue cute is what they do best.

For the first 6 years of Rockys life and the first 5 1/2 years of Bullwinkles life they lived in a condo on the beach. Of course, they were not allowed either on the beach or at the pool.

In January we moved into our new house which has much more room for them to run. We have a large yard and our own pool. They are free to roam anywhere. Which brought with it new problems. Bullwinkle is the alpha dog in our house and the moment the front door would open
he would feel obliged to run across the street to the house of the Zoe and Jax, the 2 Bedlington Terriers.

This usually got him into trouble either with me chasing him or the women with the GIANT DOBERMAN kicking at him. Bullwinkle, who really believes is a 180 lb Rottweiler had no fear of anything, people, cars, big dogs or neighbors. Rocky, on the other hand, is our timid dog. However, that didn't stop him from bolting either.

The 2nd weekend we were in the new house, my neighbor Barry rang the bell and asked, "are you missing anything"? I replied, "not that I'm aware of ". At this point, Barry stepped aside and who was standing quietly behind him, Rocky. He had been out exploring the neighborhood. Obviously, he felt obligated to look at his new surroundings.

These exploits led us to consider an "invisible fence" which we promptly had installed. It took 2 weeks to train them. Bullwinkle, of course, had to really find out if he would get a little shock. He did! Now, we can't get them past the front door. They are really quite funny about it.

They will both go out in back and play around the pool. Bullwinkle will not go through the fence into the yard. Rocky, however, always feels compelled to go through the fence and into the yard. Once he is in the yard he goes around to the front door and barks to come in. He is truly goofy.

Bullwinkle doesn't like the yard at all. If I am out in the yard picking up or gardening he will come out, however, he hugs the walls of the house like a thief in the night. He runs behind the air conditioning unit to the safety of the pool heater and runs behind the pool heater to the safety of the fence and then back into the pool area.

Our once, brave, fearless 5 lb. dog now will not move past the front portico. If other dogs are outside, he will make several attempts to move toward them and then thinks the better of it and simply turns around and goes back into the house. You can almost hear his little brain saying, "crazy I am, stupid I'm not". Bravery is still in his soul though, as long as he is in the house he will bark at every one that passes by. That's my boy!

Neelie