No, Beulie, NO!

Let's just say that raising Beulie also had its other moments. As I acknowledged earlier, Beulie, alas, is imperfect. She apparently began life by digging her way out of the womb, then dug up the foundation of her birthplace and continued her digging career here with us. She got better, I thought, until I'd happen across a new site I'd overlooked. There are ways to train for this, but the method we were taught in puppy class was so disgusting I can't even describe it here.

She was also a massive chewer but here, at least, she was more discriminating. She loved Nylabones, totally legal, and shoes, totally illegal. She never chewed furniture but she did enjoy the occasional stick. That used to scare me because I was afraid she would choke, so I gathered sticks from our yard and pulled them from her clenched teeth.

Another favorite was fabric. For a while our dish towels had telltale holes on the bottom corner until we realized the only solution was to stop hanging them at the edge of the kitchen island and put them much higher. We learned to fold laundry instantly, before it hit the basket, because any lapses meant sudden ripped socks and unmentionables discovered in the back yard. We called her "The Laundress," as in, "Here comes the laundress," when Beulie walked into the living room carrying her newest pair of boxer shorts.

We made one serious training error. Remember how we thought it was so adorable to have her stand, peering out of her exercise pen? Well, it was a huge mistake to encourage that behavior. Standing became dancing cheek to cheek, which was fun and I miss it. Standing also became counter surface so suddenly one half of a newly made sandwich would be missing. Standing developed into overly exuberant front door greetings, otherwise known as jumping or tackling. But the worst was when she would approach from behind me, jump up on my back and let it be known that she, not I, was in control. The trainer was shocked when I reported all this and I worked hard, very hard, to undo all my mistakes.

We also tried to obey all CCI policies. CCI dogs are never allowed on the bed, a strict rule we maintained with Beulie.




Brix and Beulie were often partners in crime. As I mentioned earlier, he was quite protective of Beulie and they spent a lot of down time together.



But nothing galled me more than when Brix and Beulie would grab the car keys, go out for a spin and neglect to fasten their seat belts.