Accessing Your Intuition

Maggie is my ten month old Welsh Terrier. She is also my first terrier! She was ten weeks old when we brought her home and she had plenty of time with her mother and older brother to learn how to use a doggie door and how to play with bigger dogs. Maggie was the puppy we got after our boxer died at ten years old. His buddy Cooper, my bloodhound, was raised with the boxer so when he died Cooper fell into a deep depression. So much so that I had to take him to the veterinarian. She said he was just very sad to lose the dog that was his life-long partner.  All Cooper would do during the day was sleep.  He would not eat and would hardly drink. For two weeks we watched Cooper to see if he would come around. At the barn, one of his favorite places, he would just lie down and mope and whine. So finally I asked Nancy if we could get Cooper a buddy.  Well, really I told her it was time, before Cooper died of a broken heart.

Maggie took to Cooper like a fish to water.  Cooper is now six years old so a bouncing little puppy might have pissed him off. One bite from his giant jaws and Maggie would be toast, but Cooper fell totally in love with her.  She thought his ears were something she was supposed to hang from. When Cooper walked by the couch Maggie would jump on his back and try to stay on for eight seconds like a bull rider.  She was just what Cooper needed. The two of them are now the best of friends.

On our small ranch, living in complete harmony, we have three llamas, three hens, one rooster, one sheep, two goats and nine horses. The hens are very good layers. Each of them gives us one egg a day. The problem is that Maggie knows where they are laying and gets there before me.  She smacks the egg with her paw and eats three eggs every day!  That's a lot of eggs for a twelve pound puppy.  One warm morning I tried to beat her out to the eggs. Well I was no match for her wiry little body. She got to the egg hideout before me. I turned the corner of the barn and she looked up at me with yellow egg all over her face, smiling. I can hear her say “too slow”!

Maggie loves the chickens. Really she loves to chase them. She very rarely catches them but when she gets one she just sits on top of it.  She has very few manners, but “no” is one of them.  As you can see her sleeping on the kitchen table, I am not the famous dog trainer.