by Luann Dawkins

Created on: September 10, 2008

The Adventures of Ellie May and Babygirl: The Introduction

I have written about Ellie and Baby before, but have decided this should be a series of stories. For those who haven't read the first installment I will briefly update you. Ellie (troublemaker) is a Basset Hound and Baby (diva) is a Chow/Shepard mix. Baby was eight and set in her ways when my husband and I introduced Ellie, the six-week-old puppy, into the Diva's world and turned her life upside down. She didn't like Ellie, but tolerated her, and would avoid her whenever possible. After much soul searching and the threat of imminent punishment to Ellie for a bad deed, Baby finally caved to spare this pup and they became best friends for life.

As I said, Babygirl is older and set in her ways. She doesn't like to play with toys, never has, so any we have purchased over the years have wasted away in a basket she will not acknowledge. Baby has an innate fear of inanimate objects. We aren't sure how this came about, since we adopted her from the Humane Society as an eight-week-old puppy, and I have certainly not chased, tortured or aggravated the dog with any object of any kind. She shakes and cries like we are killing her if you change her food bowl from plastic to metal or glass. I can't even wash the bowl without a cacophony of ear splitting wails.

This regal animal, with a long and strong snout, stands tall and proud for all to admire, just don't bring anything near her person. Christmas is a particularly stressful time for my proud canine as she is convinced the tree, with all its lights and shiny ornaments, has diabolical intentions of destroying her. If an ornament should accidently fall and crash to the floor, our sweet old girl is terror stricken and will hide under the bed for a full day. She is a smart girl though, she has the UPS man completely skunked. He will pull into the driveway and honk for us to come retrieve our delivery, while Baby barks her warnings. If he only knew, he could get out with a box in hand and she would run for the hills, and stay for the remainder of the day

In the earlier installment I mentioned that Babygirl is the peace keeper of the family. That holds true for everyone in the house, not just Ellie. Baby will even come to the aid of any of our three cats, whom she can't tolerate at all, which may be scolded for clawing the furniture. As much as she dislikes her cat family, she dislikes strife even more. Needless to say, we have never had to scold Baby, for anything at all.

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