“Elsie and her “children””

My first dog Elsie managed to give birth to 10 puppies in her life, they were all just wonderful. However, the most interesting thing was to observe the relationship of our dog not with his own children, but with foster children, of which there were also plenty. 

The first “baby” was Dinka – a small gray-striped kitten, picked up on the street in order to be given “in good hands.” At first, I was afraid to introduce them, because on Elsie Street, like most dogs, I was chasing cats, though, rather not out of anger, but out of sporting interest, but nevertheless … However, they had to live together for some time, so I lowered the kitten to the floor and called Elsie. She pricked up her ears, ran closer, sniffed the air, rushed forward … and began to lick the baby. Yes, and Dinka, although she had lived on the street before, did not show any fear, but purred loudly, stretched out on the carpet.

And so they began to live. They slept together, played together, went for a walk. One day a dog growled at Dinka. The kitten curled up into a ball and prepared to run away, but then Elsie came to the rescue. She ran up to Dinka, licked her, stood next to him, and they walked shoulder to shoulder past the dumbfounded dog. Having already passed the offender, Elsie turned around, bared her teeth and growled. The dog backed away and retreated, and our animals calmly continued their walk.

Soon they even became local celebrities, and I happened to be a witness to a curious conversation. Some child, seeing our couple on a walk, yelled with delight and surprise, turning to his friend:

Look, the cat and the dog are walking together!

To which his friend (probably a local, although I personally saw him for the first time) calmly replied:

– And these? Yes, this is Dinka and Elsie walking.

Soon Dinka got new owners and left us, but there were rumors that even there she was friends with dogs and was not afraid of them at all.

A few years later we bought a house in the countryside as a dacha, and my grandmother began to live there all year round. And since we suffered from raids of mice and even rats, the question arose about acquiring a cat. So we got Max. And Elsie, already having a rich experience of communicating with Dinka, immediately took him under her wing. Of course, their relationship was not the same as with Dinka, but they also walked together, she guarded him, and I must say that the cat acquired some dog features during communication with Elsie, for example, the habit of accompanying us everywhere, a cautious attitude to heights (like all self-respecting dogs, he never climbed trees) and lack of fear of water (once he even swam across a small stream).

And two years later we decided to get laying hens and bought 10 day old leghorn chicks. Hearing a squeak from the box in which the chicks were, Elsie immediately decided to get to know them, however, given that in her early youth she had a strangled “chicken” on her conscience, we did not allow her to approach the babies. However, we soon discovered that her interest in birds was not of a gastronomic nature, and by allowing Elsie to take care of the chickens, we contributed to the transformation of a hunting dog into a shepherd dog.

All day long, from dawn to dusk, Elsie was on duty, guarding her restless brood. She gathered them into a flock and made sure that no one encroached on her good. Dark days have come for Max. Seeing in him a threat to the lives of her dearest pets, Elsie completely forgot about the friendly relations that had connected them until then. The poor cat, which did not even look at these unfortunate chickens, was afraid to walk around the yard once again. It was amusing to watch how, seeing him, Elsie rushed to her former pupil. The cat pressed to the ground, and she pushed him with her nose away from the chickens. As a result, poor Maximilian walked around the yard, pressing his side against the wall of the house and looking around apprehensively.

However, it was not easy for Elsie either. When the chickens grew up, they began to divide into two equal groups of 5 pieces each and constantly strove to scatter in different directions. And Elsie, languishing from the heat, tried to organize them into one flock, which, to our surprise, she succeeded.

When they say that chickens are counted in the fall, they mean that it is very difficult, almost impossible to keep the entire brood safe and sound. Elsie did it. In autumn we had ten wonderful white hens. However, by the time they grew up, Elsie was convinced that her pets were completely independent and viable and gradually lost interest in them, so that in subsequent years the relationship between them was cool and neutral. But Max, finally, was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Elsin’s last adopted child was Alice, a little rabbit, whom my sister, in a fit of frivolity, acquired from some old woman in the passage, and then, not knowing what to do with him, brought to our dacha and left there. We, too, had absolutely no idea what to do with this creature next, and decided to find suitable owners for it, who would not let this cute creature for meat, but at least leave it for divorce. This turned out to be a difficult task, since everyone who wanted it seemed not very reliable candidates, and in the meantime the little rabbit lived with us. Since there was no cage for her, Alice spent the night in a wooden box with hay, and during the day she ran freely in the garden. Elsie found her there.

At first, she mistook the rabbit for some strange puppy and enthusiastically began to take care of him, but here the dog was disappointed. Firstly, Alice completely refused to understand all the goodness of her intentions and, when the dog approached, she tried to immediately run away. And secondly, she, of course, invariably chose jumps as her main mode of transportation. And this was completely confusing to Elsie, since no living creature known to her behaved in such a strange way.

Perhaps Elsie thought that the rabbit, like birds, was trying to fly away in this way, and therefore, as soon as Alice soared up, the dog immediately pressed her to the ground with his nose. At the same time, such a cry of horror escaped from the unfortunate rabbit that Elsie, fearing that she might have accidentally hurt the cub, shied away. And everything repeated: a jump – a dog throw – a scream – Elsie’s horror. Sometimes Alice still managed to get rid of her, and then Elsie rushed about in a panic, looking for the rabbit, and then piercing screams were heard again.

Finally, Elsie’s nerves could not stand such a test, and she gave up trying to make friends with such a strange creature, only watched the rabbit from afar. In my opinion, she was quite satisfied with the fact that Alice moved to a new house. But since then, Elsie left us to take care of all the animals that came to us, leaving herself only the functions of a protector.