Visiting my parents’ house on Easter weekend we had our second experience with Molly the Saint Bernard. Last time we were there she was a bouncy puppy of about 35 pounds with sharp puppy teeth. She ate my husband’s glasses and left several holes in various clothing pieces. A couple of months later she was as big as me and weighed 70 pounds with the biggest head you’ve ever seen. I was afraid of what she might eat this time.
My parents are very good with animals and have been working very hard to get Molly trained and under control. After all, she will be about 200 pounds by the time she is full-grown. You just have to have a dog like that in control. My dad walks her, well marches her, everyday after work. She goes to the dog park several times a week with my niece and takes obedience classes. She was still having some issues with biting so they invited a dog whisperer over. Someone they ran into recommended him who had heard about his great successes with animals. He was connected with the Humane Society.
He came over and just wanted to observe how the family reacted with the dog. They wanted to find out if the biting was a puppy thing or something else. The trainer observed and basically said they were doing everything right. The dog was basically jealous when she wasn’t getting the attention.
About that time the cat saunters up to the dog. A little history on this cat is needed. This cat found my parents house and moved in. She belonged to a neighbor down the street that had passed away. She came over and decided she wasn’t leaving. So mom and dad asked the relatives if they could keep her. They agreed and the cat happily took over the then petless house. The cat lived an amazing life of leisure and then the dog moved in. Not just a dog, a Saint Bernard puppy. Molly really just wanted to be friends, but the cat would have none of it.
The cat pulls its ears back, bares her teeth and hisses at the dog. The dog will not touch the cat and is completely buffaloed by her. The cat provokes most of the encounters just to let Molly know who is in charge. The dog whisperer loves the cat and tells my parents that’s how you handle this dog. The cat knows what she’s doing. She may be small but she is in charge. He gave them some advice on what to do and left them with their new training regimen.
Molly has now had several weeks of training with the new techniques by the time we show up for Easter. This is a different dog. She’s huge and slobbery, but under much more control. We were all mulling around in the kitchen at breakfast trying to get our breakfast together and Molly walked in. She just wants to be in the middle of everyone, she’s very social. But it’s a small kitchen and when you add a 70-pound Saint Bernard puppy to the mix it’s hard to move. Mom says to just ignore the dog. Right. We all juggle our food and try not to spill it as Molly leans up against us trying to get our attention, I pronounce, “It’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room.”
Looks like Molly will eventually get over her puppiness if she doesn’t completely exhaust and slime everyone in the process. She’s a handful albeit very sweet. It’s a good thing she’s cute!
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