Hurray for Inge!

Last week Thursday I came home from work to find that Stella had attempted to eat her way out of the front door. For no good reason. At least not that I was able to discern. She knew she totally blew it, too. I no more than walked in the door and saw wood chips on the floor than she lost control and peed on the floor. This was so out of character for Stella – the peeing and the destructive behavior. She has always been slightly neurotic but it had been almost entirely confined to crowded places like the farmer’s market and in situations where people she doesn’t know try to touch her. But for some reason, her inner crazy bubbled over and she decided that she wanted to let it out (of the apartment, by the looks of it).

I have a hypothesis about her behavior. I think it is a cumulative effect from a number of factors. First of all, we left her twice on long weekends to stay in the apartment while Laurel (our dogsitter) let her out several times a day. I think she is worried that us leaving means us not returning for days while she is largely cooped up in the apartment. Secondly, Stella learned how to open the front door if we don’t slide the deadbolt. We found a note on our door a few weeks ago – ‘Do you miss your dog?’ Our neighbor, Inge, had rescued Stella from the stairwell (to where she had escaped once she busted out) and hustled her into Inge’s apartment one floor above ours, where she spent the afternoon relaxing. I thanked Inge profusely, recovered Stella, and apologized in a similar fashion. This was the first time I met Inge.

Stella managed her Houdini routine one more time and we found her in the stairwell. She was very excited to see us. Go figure. Apparently, two times was enough to hardwire Stella’s new found skill into her doggy brain. I think she must have been giving it half-hearted attempts ever since but we’d been diligent about locking the door. Last Thursday she must have gotten down to business scratching at the door and, I assume, chewing the edge once she realized that the handle wasn’t budging.

That night after I had picked up all the little door chips in hopes of gluing them back in place, David taped two large cardboard pieces around the side and bottom of the door and hung a pillow case over the handle area to minimize the scratch damage. Friday after work I came home to total cardboard annihilation. Both rectangles of cardboard were ripped off the door and shredded. For good measure, Stella tore the pillowcase off the door and chewed a perfect circle in it. There were also more scratches and the door’s volume was slightly diminished. I wasn’t sure what to do other than clean up and let her chase the tennis ball for half an hour.

David and I had a long heart to heart about a plan to deal with Stella’s craziness and we concluded that intensive training supplemented with Laurel coming around a couple of times a week to break the monotony would hopefully do the trick. So, Friday Stella started doggy boot camp: lot’s of training, no following us around the house, absolutely no barking. The usual regimen for a troubled dog. As usual, Stella enjoys training, but I still worried that she would get us evicted.

This leads me to the cupcakes. I bought a vegan cupcake cookbook before we left the U.S. (see earlier post) and I’ve committed to making a batch of cupcakes once per month. This is a compromise. I think if I were left to my own devices, I’d probably make them weekly (or more). In any event, Sunday was cupcake day and I decided on the apple cider cupcakes (the quintessential Autumn cupcake according to the recipe). The recipe supposedly yielded 12 cupcakes but by the time I slid the second 6-pan in the oven, there was still a pool of batter and I figured that 15 or more cupcakes was just asking for trouble.

So, I wrapped one up and headed upstairs to give it to Inge. She answered and asked me to come in. I refused tea and handed her the cupcake. She offered tea again, I refused and then I noticed her very cool, very eclectic apartment. Inge is a painter and her colorful artwork was all over the walls. I asked her a few questions about painting and she finally foisted tea on me. We chatted for a few minutes and the conversation turned to Stella. Inge asked how she was doing and I explained her crazy behavior. Her response wasn’t quite what I had imagined. Instead of the pat response I was expecting – ‘oh, that’s too bad. Good luck with that’ – Inge instead volunteered to walk Stella and spend afternoons with her when she was free from her busy pensioner (Inge’s adjective, not mine) lifestyle. I gladly accepted and Inge was quick to remind me that she was often busy and could only do it a few days a week. I didn’t care; anything would be bound to help.

So, Inge and Stella had their debut walk-date on Monday and apparently it went swimmingly. Stella loves Inge and vice-versa. They go for 2-hour walks to who-knows-where in the afternoons and Stella is mellow and satisfied when I get home. I don’t know how long this might go on. I am hoping to prolong the magic by plying Inge with dinners and more cupcakes. It is getting colder and darker by the day. I am optimistic that Inge is a foul-weather friend but if not, this will hopefully get Stella over the hump while she is getting trained. In any event, I am extremely grateful for Inge and her kindness. So is Stella. And David.

I still love Hamburg. Now I love Inge, too!