Tuesday All Things Ellie - Meet Callie and Oakley

Callie

 Max and Jack aren't the only cats that Ellie has befriended (well, as much as a cat and dog can be friends, I guess.)  Ellie also knows Callie and Oakley.

Ellie and Callie's relationship had a rocky beginning. When Callie walked into the front yard, Ellie was just a puppy. Ellie wanted to jump right over to her. I held her leash tight, trying to judge the cat's ability to reach her. 

I judged poorly. 

Callie stretched out the full length of her front leg and scratched Ellie across the ear. Poor Ellie was shocked and hurt, and her ear was even bleeding. I took her inside, cleaned her ear, and gave her lots and lots of love.

At that point, I thought Callie belonged to the people next door. When I commented to our neighbor about "their" cat, he told me the cat did not belong to them but was just hanging around their house, so he started feeding her. He also said he let her sleep in their storage area if it was cold. This made me feel a little better about the cat, but not much.

Then, a neighbor around the corner told me the cat had jumped the fence and picked a fight with his cat, Jack.  Now I really didn't like Callie, because Jack is about the sweetest cat I've ever met.

Several days during the week, Ellie and I see Callie crossing our yard.  It took a long time - a really long time - working with Ellie to get her to where she would not react to Callie's presence.  They never became good friends as they did in our children's book "Greens for Percival," but they do respect each other a good bit more.

Oakley is exactly the opposite of Callie.  

The first time we saw Oakley, we were walking through the neighborhood.  She was sitting on the front steps of her house, and as we approached, she slowly came down the steps and walked down the sidewalk toward us.  She did not seem frightened at all,  in fact, she seemed as if she wanted to greet us.  

Ellie stood very still, maybe remembering the wonderful greeting she had received from Jack. When Oakley was almost upon us, Ellie lowered herself into that "beagle pounce" position, as I call it. I knew enough about Ellie to know there would be a lunge if I didn't intervene. I made Ellie get up, and we began to walk away. Oakley returned to her porch.  

We see Oakley frequently, and now the two animals don't respond much to each other, but they don't react either, which I think is a good relationship for a dog and cat to have.