For Whom the Bell Tolls
"It tolls for thee."
Not really. Really it tolls for Chuckie and I. You see we got this genius idea that since LeeLoo is a wanderer and Chuckie tends to zone out; not noticing she left and then by the time she realizes that just standing at the door won't work and she comes back to get our attention, she ends up leaking on her run back to the door since she has to go so badly, that teaching her to ring a bell when she goes out would be perfect.
About three weeks ago, Chuckie went to the hardware store and bought supplies. When he came home with them, I was a little surprised. I wasn't exactly expecting a cow bell, I was picturing more a cute little brass bell, but C'est la vie. His hearing isn't the greatest so he needed something loud. He hung it and we began training.
For the first day, we rang the bell ourselves, said "Yay", and opened the door and let her out. Then for the next two weeks, we would say "ring the bell" then take her paw and hit the bell with it. We cheered and clapped and let her out. LeeLoo is like a genius so it should have been an easy thing to teach her. When she would go to the door we would keep telling her to "hit the bell" and wait, you could see in her eyes she knew exactly what we were asking, she just didn't want to. So we would use her paw to hit the bell and let her out. For the first week and a half we were dedicated, each and every trip outside got a bell ring. The next week, we slacked a little, our little prodigy just wasn't picking it up. Sometimes we remembered to ring the bell, but we were blah about it. This is the puppy who learned to speak in about 30 seconds, so after almost 3 weeks if she didn't have it she just wasn't going to get it. I was about ready to have Chuckie take the bell down, but then....
About four nights ago, we were just sitting and watching t.v., LeeLoo headed for the kitchen and I was getting ready to follow when I heard it. That's right, "it" was the sound of a cow bell coming from the kitchen. That sound was like poetry! I thought the bell tolling was evoking the connection described by John Donne's "No Man is an Island" I was wrong but who would have thought my feelings about the bell would so closely match the range of emotions evoked by Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells."
...What a world of merriment their melody foretells!How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,...Bells, bells, bells - From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells...
I was so excited! I started yelling "Good Girl, I'm coming!!!" When I got out there she was standing in front of the door looking over her shoulder waiting for me. I hugged, petted, and praised her when I got there. I gave her a cookie and let her out. Chuckie joined me in the kitchen and we celebrated again when she came back in. We were the proudest parents! We knew she was smart enough to use the bell as a signal. We discussed how this would give her so much more freedom of movement throughout the house as well as save us from following her to the kitchen when all she wanted was a drink or just simply a different room to be in. But at the same time we were cautious, it was only the first time, what if she hit it by accident.
...What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!...How they ring out their delight!...Bells, bells, bells - To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!...
By the next day we were definite it was no accident. She rang the bell every time she wanted out. Every time I heard that chime, I smiled and happily yelled out "Coming LeeLoo." Once I was finishing up a page of a book I was reading and didn't yell out right away, she jingled again. I laughed, and called out. When I got out there she was looking at me like, "Uh you're supposed to come when I ring." Both Chuckie and I were just enchanted that she learned to do it and she was doing it consistently.
...What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night...Bells, bells, bells -In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!...
I wasn't quite as enamored by the bells by day three. I think it became strenuous to cheerfully say "Coming LeeLoo" when I was out in the kitchen, yes right there in the kitchen no more than 10 feet from the bell, making dog biscuits. I had only been working maybe 5 minutes the first time she rang. No biggie, I was just getting my supplies together. The second time, I was just measuring ingredients, sure she was just out but hey she's a pup maybe she forgot to go when she was outside less than 5 minutes ago. Hmmm, she had to be encouraged to go out and she came back in almost immediately. The third and fourth time when I had to shut off the mixer, it still wasn't too bad except she didn't want out she just looked at me expectantly when I walked over to the door. I was gritting my teeth and struggling to stay pleasant by the fifth and sixth time, since I was in the process of rolling out the dough and cutting the cookies out, and she still didn't want out. I figured out, she was trying to get me to give her some of the yummy smelling stuff I was making. We went through the same routine while I was making cheesecake later. The sound of the bell wasn't making me quite as happy, but still she was using it. Yes she was using it for other things as well but still we knew when she needed out.
...What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!...How we shiver with affright...Bells, bells, bells -To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
Oh yeah, what a great idea that bell was! As I began typing this, I answered what must have been my hundredth summons of the day. What was I called in for? Well you see, Sugar was eating out of LeeLoo's bowl. Since I was summoned I did what she wanted, I chased Sugar out of LeeLoo's bowl so that LeeLoo could go an sniff her bowl, decide she didn't want that and go eat out of Sugar's bowl. Every time she wanted to go run through the woods, dig in her sandbox, walk out on the porch and look around, beg for whatever is being cooked, or tattle on Sugar, that bell rang. If I never heard another bell, you wouldn't hear me complain. Sure I'm glad she's got a way to signal her need to go outside so we don't have to worry about accidents, but we've created a bell ringing monster!!!!
