I so often write with the stories of misbehavior, I thought I'd tell you
guys about a huge improvement.

Remember that post about how Cubbe had growled and gotten a drop of
blood from a friend's finger? The same friend spent the day here
yesterday. Cubbe barked when she rang the bell. Jim and I put her on a
leash so we'd have control of her when Ellie entered. It wasn't
necessary. Cubbe sniffed politely, did no jumping or attacking or
aggressive displays. Ellie spoke gently and normally to her, bent over
to allow herself to be inspected and assured us that everything was fine.


The worst I can say for Cubbe's behavior is that she demanded a little
more attention than she normally does. She often does that when there's
a lot of activity and walking around through different rooms. Since
Ellie and I moved the quilt-in-progress from the small sewing room to
the larger living room where we could rearrange fabric and stand back to
look at it, and since Cubbe considers the living room to be hers anyway,
that was to be expected.

This is where this thread ties in with the "Shelter Dogs" one. I was
saying there that I think of myself as being a representative of
J.Q.Public. This is an example. I wish I could tell y'all about how
much practice and work we put in with Cubbe desensitizing her to
strangers on her territory and how it paid off yesterday. The truth is
that we've terribly lax about that. We don't know enough people to give
Cubbe practice meeting and greeting. Whatever we did right, we did by
accident.

--Lia