Striking distance!

Julie is the sweetest little girl and she follows me around everywhere and if I am in kitchen she is never more than 6 inches away from my heel. She does not walk with confidence her tail is always down and her little face never shows her emotions. She does not care about her surroundings or she just never pays attention to them.  Where ever I am she is in view of me.  She will often find a rug or pee pad on the floor to sit on while she waits for me to leave the room I am in. She has the shortest legs and does not move quickly.  The only time I see her run is to get up a little momentum so she can jump on something.  She is very graceful when she jumps and it’s interesting to watch her.  She is always holding one foot or another up so when you see her standing, most of the time she is on only three legs; and it is never the same three legs.  Sometimes when she pees both of her back legs come off the ground. I get a chuckle when I see her pivoting on her front two legs trying to pee. She does not run with the pack but she will check out the alert bark from one of them.  She just wants to be next to me.  If I am not around she picks one of the girls to hang with.  But what Julie does have, is total respect from the other dogs.  When she has picked her spot to lie down or sit down on, she does not warn the others to leave she just bits them.  Now she never breaks the skin on these bits but she makes them scream.  It is so quick I often do not even see her do it but the dog that was in her striking zone screams and leaves. It took me a long time to find out what was going on because I did not see her do it.  I just heard the scream and a dogs butt leaving the area.  She has never bared her teeth to us humans and never growled.  She almost never growls at the other dogs she just bits them if they try to enter her comfy space.   The rest of the pack now respect this about her and leave her alone when she is in her comfy space.  Her bit reminds me of a snake striking something you almost have to slow it down to see it.  She only cares about her space where she sits and does not want the other to get in her space.  Now she will get in their space and all is well no fuss no bitching nothing. I find the actions of the other dog when they encounter Julie hilarious.  She will be sleeping in a little ball on the couch and someone will jump up and they are unaware of her presence. They are still in the middle of their jump when she strikes them. The scream comes and they land on the couch and bounce right back off, it is all in one swift motion.  The Hooligan boys are the only ones that jump without looking and they get it every time.  The others will get up on the edge and look before they jump.  If they see her they just slink down and go away. Going to bed is too funny as long as I am not in a bad mood, then I want to kill all of them.  I get into bed and all the dog get up at the top of the blankets and paw at them so I will lift them up and they can crawl in.  They do not do this at the same time so it can be a long drawn out process as they come one by one to get a spot under the blankets.  Julie only wants to be next to me, from about my waist up.  Gertie only want to be under my arm next to my neck. Chiquita it takes her forever to settle down so she can even get under the blanket but she does not care where she is under there. Cabot waits till the lights go out and everyone quiets down then he hops up and starts to take over someone’s spot. He just gets under the blanket and plops down on any dog in his chosen spot; except Julie….   She is always the first in the bed to get the spot she wants then when everyone else picks a place to get under the blanket I hold the blanket up and they see her and back out and go to the other side.  This little dog gets one whole side by herself.  The other chickens won’t even attempt to get anywhere near her spot they just get on the other side of me and pile up.  So the lights go out everyone is calmed down and settled in and here comes Cabot I try to direct him to the other side but he will have no part of what I am trying to get him to do.  So I laugh at him and hold up the blanket, he takes one step and sees her and he back right back out and heads for the other side of me.  “I told you”. Some nights this scenario can go on with every damn dog in the house.  I cannot make them go to the side she is not on they must all try the side she is on then go to the other.  She has their attention in this area.  She has all my alpha’s dogs giving her a wide berth.  And they have never fought or growled she just bits them and they go away.  My Cabot and foster Willy would mix it up and there was no giving in I had to literally separate them so they would stop trying to kill each other. Julie’s mere presents are all the others need to give in, when it comes to her space.  Sometimes the Hooligan boys will jump and in midair see her; it is as if they are clawing at air to get out of her space.  It never works they get the Julie strike then we get the scream.  This little girl knows just how to make herself understood. The other morning she was sitting in my lap while I drank my coffee, she was just sitting there looking up at me with those soulful eyes that just scream I love you. Her eye are contagious I often find myself just looking in them as if I see all the way to her inner being. I heard the scream and all the dogs were headed in different directions. I knew someone got it but never saw her move nor felt her move I just heard the scream.  I took a couple more sips from my coffee and look down at those soulful dark eyes and I as I was being mesmerized by her look I saw the tuft of crest hair hanging out the side of her mouth. Now if I ever needed depends it was at that moment….