I just got back from a trip over to Tara’s to help her with the baby. Tara is experiencing the “baby blues” and just needed some moral support and ‘mommy comfort’ from her own mom. So I loaded up all three dogs, left Mike to care for the ducks (which he wasn’t too keen on but did for Tara), and spent two nights and two full days in Indiana.
Tara has gotten more accepting of the dogs being loose in her house as long as they don’t jump up on her or the furniture and also they must leave baby Ellie alone. Well at first they were a bit excited (except Beckett who is on muscle relaxants for her neck injury and was content to stay in her crate). Tara’s house has laminate flooring throughout and the dogs slip a bit as they wriggle around to greet Joel and explore. But after a bit they settled down (or Callen settled as much as a high-energy, seven month old puppy can).
Callen was curious about Ellie, especially when she made noise of any kind. Being as she is still pretty much a puppy we were super-vigilant about keeping an eye on her whenever Ellie was in her little bouncy chair on the floor. Callen would try hard to get Ellie to play and that would include nosing her face and pawing at her, so we would let her sniff once and then have her lie down with a chew toy.
But Trey went into ‘Super-Momma mode’. We first noticed this when we visited on Veterans Day. We had the dogs gated off in the office area because Tara wasn’t eager to have ‘dog germs’ near her week-old baby. That’s okay. We were in her house with her baby, so she gets to make the rules and the dogs were not hurt by those rules. But each time Ellie fussed Trey would yip/bark until we brought Ellie to her to see that everything was okay with the baby. And the same thing happened here over Thanksgiving – Trey ‘mothered’ Ellie and was worried each time she fussed.
So this visit was more of the same with Trey needing to be reassured that Ellie was okay even if she was fussing. When we laid Ellie down in her playpen for some ‘tummy time’ Trey went over and sniffed and then laid down right next to the playpen while Ellie was there. The height of the ‘Super-Momma’ behavior was on Friday afternoon when Ellie was in her seat by the dining room table and we were getting ready for an early supper so I could head home. Joel had just gotten home so Beckett was out to greet him. She was just passing in the vicinity of Ellie when Trey darted out from under the table and put herself between Beckett and Ellie with a snarl and a showing of teeth. She was very definitely guarding the baby.
As cute and endearing as the behavior is, I don’t want Trey to be that possessive of anything or anyone. Dog fights are ugly and loud and bitch fights are downright dangerous, especially if one bitch thinks she’s protecting her young. So I had Trey move away and lie down and had Beckett come over to sniff the baby (not something she really wanted to do as Beckett really has no interest at all in Ellie). Then when Beckett moved away on her own, Joel picked Ellie up out of her chair and removed her from Trey’s almost obsessive mothering.
It really is sweet to see Trey be so ‘involved’ with Ellie to the point of putting herself between both Beckett and Callen if they get too close. But it’s not a behavior I want to encourage to the point of zealousness. Protecting family is a good thing, but guarding behavior isn’t acceptable. But it has put Trey in a good light in Tara’s eyes. She said that she ‘almost likes Trey now’ due to her super-momma-ing. And that is high praise from Tara!
