Creature of Habit

Libby is definitely a creature of habit.

I was thinking about that as I brought her in last night. When she is outside on the cable, she always takes the same route to come to me whether she needs to or not. It’s a little difficult to explain, but I walk out the back door and go as far as I know she can reach with the cable in order to unhook her. Usually, that is in the same place so I can find the end of the cable in the dark (or snow) the next time I put her out. Her dog house sits near the end of the house furthest from the back door. It also sets out away from the house about six feet. (Because it’s very heavy, and when Kyle got it close enough for her to get into comfortably, he left it there).

Normally, when I go to get her in the evening, she is in the dog house. When I call her, instead of coming directly to me, she will go from the dog house up to the side of the house, and walk along the house, under the eaves, until she reaches me. Initially, I thought she was doing that to stay out of the weather, but remembering her behavior when she was tied in the front yard, I’m not so sure.

In order to keep her from clobbering people who came to the front door, and in order to give her the maximum running space, we tethered the cable along the fence at the far side of the yard, midrange between the house and the road. It gave her the run of half the front yard, and allowed her to get on the front porch comfortably, but not to the front door.

One of her favorite things to do was to run out barking vicously at any pedestrian, bicycle, ATV, or vehicle pulling a trailer (That was one of the reasons, I moved her to the back yard…although she couldn’t reach them, she scared people to death.) She always took the same path to the road regardless of where she was in the yard. She would go all the way back to the fence and follow the fence line down to the road. She would do the same thing when she came back toward the house. She would go back to the fence, and follow the fence line back to the house.

The whole thing just leaves me scratching my head, but a lot about her does.

She got more of Katherine’s clothes from the bathroom yesterday. Unfortunately, the bathroom door broke so we can’t keep her out. If I was to compare my life to the movies, right now it would be Marley and Me Meets The Money Pit.

I’ve got to do a little research, but I’ve got to stop her chewing. If I don’t we won’t have any clothes left!

Connie