Returns

Peter just returned from nearly a week in Israel. He came back browner and still a bit dusty from the Mediterranean heat. Josie greeted him ecstatically. She is noticeably more demonstrative with him than with the rest of us (though she is also eager to please Elizabeth as well). When I returned from a week away in England, it was business as usual with her:
happy enough to see me, but no more.

She has changed. She's back to being interested in people again, but still pushing the boundaries of behavior. Barking has gotten worse. She's rebelling more, sometimes racing around the garden like a maniac, sometimes reaching up to nip when she's been corrected (again this is more with Peter and Elizabeth, perhaps because they do more of the alpha-exercises with her). Her coloring is also changing rapidly. While Peter was away, she grew white lines from her elbows up her sides. Her chest developed a white spot that Michael called a thunderbird, but has now grown larger and shapeless. The underside of her tail appears to have a chain of tan going up it, and her rear end is now also tan. Her sides are still mostly smooth and black, although her back is covered with wavy black layers.

She began to go out of control the day Peter left, ignoring all rebukes. I shook her down for barking about three times the first evening, and shook her down another three times for digging on the next day and haven't had much trouble with her since. We've also been working to control her jumping up: catching hold of her legs and keeping her upright just past the point of discomfort (it's beginning to have an effect). She's not much of a hunter, fortunately, though she's tried a couple of times to snap up bumble bees. Somehow the bees didn't seem to notice, and canine and apian escaped unscathed. And even when she catches the cats off-guard, they manage to scramble away from her because she gives up the chase so easily.

That being said, she is becoming territorial. When Elizabeth brought her out the other day and Josie saw me in the garden, before she recognized me, she became alert and guarded: ears up, standing very still, tail notrwagging. Once she heard my voice, she relaxed and wiggled up to me. A day or so later, a bird landed on the yard fence and she became alert and suspicious, and began a short growl and a series of warning barks. The bird, though clueless to the threat, soon flew away and Josie was satisfied.

I suppose it is only a matter of time before she stops accepting anyone who comes into the house, but so far that hasn't been a problem. She has taken Robyn's arrival as our long-term guest in stride. When our friend Chieko came to pick up her son, Frederic, the other night, Josie was absolutely delighted to greet her and be petted by her. It's hard to tell whether she remembers Chieko from having met her weeks ago; Josie did her best to crawl over her. It was late in the evening though, so I held Josie in my arms until she settled down and lay still for stroking. I'm hoping she'll learn that way to be calm with guests.