Maude came off the transport and never stopped moving. At least that’s what I heard. Another foster parent picked her up and kept her for a few hours until I could retrieve her. When I went to get her, there were four dogs in the yard, her own two and two more waiting to be fostered. I looked them over carefully, trying to see who matched Maude’s online picture. “Which one is she?” I asked. Once I was told, “She’s the one in nonstop motion,” it was a no-brainer to pick her out of the melee, er, pack.
On the walk to my car, everything was exciting to Maude. She yanked the leash toward a butterfly, froze to listen to a car engine nearby and zigzagged so much she covered three times the distance we would have if she’d walked in a straight line. She sniffed out every cranny in my car, even finding a dried up dog treat. She bounded from window to window, never staying next to one for long.
Inside my house, Maude zoomed from one spot to the next. She put shoes, pillows, throws, paper bags, the corner of the dog bed and toilet paper in her mouth. When she was told “no,” she would let me take the item but immediately zoomed off to try out something else. She found the dog toy box and emptied the toys all over the house, splashed the dog water around before drinking it and then play-barked at my dogs a few times. Anything that came into her mind to do, she tried it out.
I pulled out the description I had received of Maude. Medium energy, uh no. Loves other dogs, yes, when she stops long enough, she does. Needs a little help to get to her forever home? Yep, Maude needed to slow down long enough to learn the basics. It also said she was easy to love and that one was very, very true.
My own two dogs, Teddy and Josie, simply love routine and basic rules. In the morning, breakfast always comes after a trip outdoors. Dinner time is pretty close to 6 pm and there’s a dog biscuit just before bedtime. They wait patiently while the kibble plinks into the bowl and sit quietly before their treats. It’s okay to bark (a little) at the postal carrier but not the children walking by. Dog toys can be tossed around and shredded but never shoes.
Maude was new to routine and rules but watched closely the first few days. She was smart and wanted to master the routine, not be led along by it. Within a week, she was the first to tell me it was dinner time or time to get ready for bed. “You are such a smarty tail,” I would tell her. She would beam and wag her tail happily. She quickly learned to leave shoes, slippers and pillows alone. She began to love hearing “good girl” and shoved in front of the other dogs to be sure I saw her sit for treats.
Most dogs understand – far better than people do – that life keeps happening even when we’d like it to slow down or stop for a while. We have a few choices: we can try to control everything, accept what comes to us or move ourselves to a place where we are in the flow. Maude chose none of these. She plunged headlong into every new moment, bringing her boundless energy with her. But she learned to find pleasure in the structure of a routine that shapes the day and that following rules can bring praise, ear scratching and treats.
Someone else fell in love with that online picture of Maude. I brought her to the young couple’s house to meet them. She zoomed around in her trademark fashion, but sat when asked and wagged happily at hearing “good girl.” While I talked about her smarts and her good manners, Maude lay down and waited patiently. “Balance is everything,” I thought to myself. “And Maude knows it.”