Great progress, Girlie!
I am so proud of this amazing girl! Her heart is so big and her brain so curious.
Girlie has been one of the more difficult Kity Boot Campers I have had. Don't get hung up on the word difficult. I used to teach 4th grade and would swear on my cookie jar that the difficult kids would make the most interesting adults. Difficult doesn't mean bad. Challenging is also not bad. You know who else was difficult? Pippi Longstockings. And I bet Robin Williams and every comedian you love was. Challenging. Keeping teachers on their toes.
Difficult isn't bad. It just means there's more work.
Girlie is an inquisitive hound. On walks, she notices everything. People in the distance? Spotted. A landscape flag on the next block? Noticed. A squirrel in Canada? Totally noticed. Girlie won't lunge or pull towards these things. She just stops and stares. This is the same when she's inside and sees one of my cats. The question is if she'll stop, stare, lunge or stop, stare, figure it out, and move on.
Up until today, we were doing tethered time after work and in the living room. Unfortunately, the cats didn't often show themselves. Girlie's previous eagerness turned them off, and the cats were wary. They did come out, and I did get to see how Girlie reacted. I felt optimistic. She never reacted to them running, only to them hiding under the couch. Enough scolding and, I believe, enough time allowed her to get bored of the situation. She knows the house well enough that a hidden cat isn't really hidden.
I had tried to have her just muzzled in my study while I was working early in our Girlie days, but she was too eager and the cats too unimpressed. It wasn't good. I decided to have the doors shut so the hounds could have hound time and when they went outside, the cats had free-ranging time. I worried that I was creating a situation that would mean they never met, and I had to make some changes.
I took another dumbbell (weight, not dog), and put the chain of leads on it and placed the dumbbell in the middle of the room. She still could rest on a bed at either end. She could not get too close to the desk, which is where the cats' beds are. I made sure the leads couldn't knock things over. When I was pretty sure I could work and open the room, I took the chance.
So much build up for nothing! Cats weren't coming in. Girlie was napping. I lost interest and got back to work. Suddenly, a cat was on my desk, and when I turned around to check Girlie, she was looking but still lying down in bed! The cat wove in and around my computer and monitors (oooh, I hate that) and I did my best not to be too "jerky" when I shooed the cat or guided him away. I didn't want to make the cat look like a toy. Girlie made me so proud. She just watched. The cat, Spicy Pie, eventually got bored and left. I got up and held the lead loose enough so she wouldn't feel me but not so loose that she could reach the cat should she decide to lunge. Sweet Girlie just watch Spicy Pie, and he felt comfortable enough to clean his naughty bits. He even came back into the room! So much progress for both cat and hound.
Is the muzzle a thing of the past? Oh, heck no. She doesn't dislike the muzzle, so why take the chance. The next steps are just more open-house (no pets closed off) days. I can't and won't force the cats to come out. That has to come from their trust and ease with Girlie. It's happening. It's just slow.
Your honor, I present to you the evidence to support Girlie's progress:
