Right At Home

Molly has been bounced around so much lately she is developing the ability to make herself right at home no matter where she is at. She has lived in an apartment, she has lived in a house, and she has stayed in a cabin, all in the past two months. Molly exercises a "right of ownership" no matter who's house she is in. I pack me and her a suitcase and off we go. There is a certain amount of cool that goes with being a nomad, being able to drop whatever you are doing and be in a different town within an hour. Molly loves to ride and she loves the sense of adventure that comes with it. I believe that Molly likes the cabin called Ralph's Place most of all. There is a tremendous amount of freedom for both of us when we go there and that is a very liberating feeling.

This Is The Life

Molly, my girlfriend, and I had a quick one night getaway at a cabin near TR called Ralph's Place. Molly really likes it mainly because she gets to go with me and I do not have to put her in a kennel. Molly also likes it because she has the run of the house to herself. It has a big, comfortable couch that Molly can actually get up on without my assistance and it also has a king size bed. Molly does need my help getting up on it and as big as that bed is, Molly still somehow manages to hog the bed. I tried to get her to just take a corner of the bed, but she insisted on getting right in the middle and sprawling out. Molly likes being a diva just because she can.

The Next Generation

I see a lot of Molly in Mandy, Molly's young pup of a roommate. She is full of energy, she is very playful, and she likes to run everywhere she goes. Mandy likes to run because she can. I will take Molly on walks and mandy will literally run circles around us. She likes to tease Molly. When Mandy runs by Molly will snap at her but she is too old to give chase. Mandy is smart enough to keep her distance but she also keeps thumbing her nose at Molly but it is all in fun. At least Mandy is enjoying herself but Molly has begrudgingly accepted Mandy.

Goats Are Not Friendly Animals

Over the years Molly and I have been together, we have had run ins with all sorts of animals. We have had spats with dogs, cats, rodents of all kinds, snakes, bees, chickens and after today we can add goats to the list. I took Molly on her afternoon walk and we ran into one of the goats that lived on the property. He acted friendly enough but when we got closer to the goat, the more hornery he acted. Molly just wanted to check him out and he kept lowering his head like he was going to head butt her. The goats horns were about 3 or 4 inches long and I thought that might be kind of painful. I hustled Molly into the house and thought we might want to avoid the goat now and in the future.

A Dog's Ability To Adapt

A dog has an amazing ability to adapt to anything that is thrown at it. Molly's eyesight has been declining for quite some time now. She got to the point to where she was afraid to jump on the bed because she couldn't see well enough to judge the jump. She started walking up to the bed and putting her front legs and torso up on the bed and used her back legs to climb with. She still gets on the bed and doesn't have to jump. Molly also uses me as a "seeing eye human" for our walks outside in the darkness. She trusts me well enough to let me lead the way. A dog seems to say "I have to do it this way to survive" whereas as a lot of humans seem to say "I can't change the way I have done it my whole life." We could learn a lot from our four-legged friends.

Pops and Dogs

Today would have been my Father's 78th birthday and in honor of this day, this blog is dedicated to him and his love of dogs. Pops never met a dog he didn't like but I have the one dog on the planet that did not like him laying right here beside me. Pops knew the nature of dogs and could tell if one was going to be a "good" dog or not just by being around it for about 15 minutes. Pops could also work with a dog for about 30 minutes and he could have it singing and dancing. David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks" was created with my father in mind. Pops lifelong love affair with dogs began early on in life when he was training his own hunting dogs when he was about 7 years old. I was looking at some old family pictures taken when I was a young boy and in just about every picture there was either a family dog (usually a Poodle named Midnight) or one of my Dad's hunting dogs. When I got old enough to go bird hunting with my Father I made the conscious decision to not carry a gun because I did not believe in killing other living things (except a spider or a snake- there are exceptions to every rule) but I loved watching my dad work with his dogs. Towards the end of his life, the perfect day for him was one spent with his dogs. As I get later on in my life, I can see that he might be right.

There Is Something Out Here

I took Molly out for her very early morning walk this morning at about 4:30 and Molly immediately picked up on the scent of something. I knew it had to be something different and something big because of the way she was reacting. She is around chickens and ducks all of the time and although she does like chicken, she doesn't start tracking it like this. It was dark, I was real clo0se to the woods, and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable being out in the open and exposed like that. I hustled Molly back into the house because I really had no desire to know what was out there. I am thinking a Bobcat or something that could slap all of the ass off of me and Molly. We like our ass right where it is at. I went out later in the morning and something had really tore up the ground out where we were so I will have to be on my guard for a little while.

A Challenge

Molly has challenged me. This is not the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that has been sweeping the Social Media Nation. I just saw a Petco commercial that was about your pet challenging their owner to be more and to do more. Molly has always challenged me. She challenges me to get up every morning and take her for a walk, to get up when I don't feel well and play with her, to smile and laugh when I do not want to, and to be a better person. Molly has also challenged me to share more- share more of my pizza, share more of the bed, share more of my dinner- and you get the picture. To make me a better person is a lot of responsibility for Molly to take on. She accomplishes all of this with a few woofs and a wag of the tail.

It Tastes Like Chicken

As Molly has gotten more comfortable in her new residence, she has started paying more attention to her surroundings, namely the chickens that reside here on "the Farm." There are some exotic breeds of chickens that live here and one particular breed looks like the poultry version of Don King with some James Brown hot pants on. I took to calling one of them Disco Don. Either Molly is a lot quicker than I give her credit for or Disco Don did not think Molly was a threat but she got close enough to him to rip all of his tailfeathers out with her teeth. That is the closest Molly has come to the KFC buffet and a whole lot closer than I wanted her to become.

The Doggy Obstacle Course

At any point and time during the day, I can walk through my living room and I have two dogs sprawled out on the living room floor. It resembles one of the standard scenes from the old television show Hee Haw where the dogs are laying out on the porch and the two guys are sitting in their chairs giving their philosophy about life. To get anwhere in the living room I have to step over the dogs without stomping on them. God knows I would not want to wake them up. I refer to the old adage "Let sleeping dogs lie" especially in Molly's case.

Golfers Never Take A Dog

Mark Twain said "Golf is a good walk spoiled." That is because Mark Twain probably never took a dog with him. Golf clubs or not I do not think it is possible to spoil a good walk with a dog. A dog treats life the way you would like to. If a dog sees something it doesn't like, it takes a whiz on it. If it is real bad, it takes a dump on it. If a golfer took a dog and he hit a bad shot, the dog could take a whiz on the golf club. Molly doesn't like going to the vet so she makes sure she makes her displeasure known by taking a dump on his examination room floor. This is of course after she whizzes on all of his bushes outside. She really does not like the vet. I had a German Shorthair that took a whiz on my neighbor's Pit Bull one time. Max thought the Pit Bull was thirsty and wanted to help him quench his thirst. I wish I could make statements like that on things that displease me.

A Jealous Beast

Molly is by nature a jealous beast with the emphasis on beast. If I pet another dog she gets pissed. If I pet the cat she gets pissed. If I snuggle up with my girlfriend, she really gets pissed. It has gotten to the point that Molly is using my girlfriend as her personal chew toy although, I am pretty sure chew toys do not bleed. The only acceptable solution (at least to Molly) is that all of my attention is to be directed towards Molly at all times. That solution does not sit too well with my girlfriend however, so I have come up with another solution. When it is me and Molly by ourselves, Molly will get my undivided attention and when the girlfriend is around, Molly will have to share.

The Things Molly Would Say

My girlfriend and I were talking last night and I told her that i talked to Molly all of the time and I followed that up with "It's a good thing Molly can't talk." We then started discussing what Molly would possibly say. My girlfriend had a totally different perspective because she thinks Molly does not like her. It doesn't help that Molly may have taken a bite or two out of her. She thinks Molly might say something like "I'm going to act real friendly towards you then bite you on the hand," or "I am not going to let you pet me no matter how cute you say I am." Molly cannot tell all of my secrets because there is some sort of law about how your dog cannot incriminate its owner or something but I believe Molly would say stuff like "Take a whiff of that one!" and "Dan, Did you know we are out of treats?" and "Dan, Mandy (Molly's new roommate) is a dumbass/candyass/ lazyass/ smelly/ass egg sucking dog!" These are just some of the several thousand things she would probably come up with.

A Football Dog

Molly is a good dog to watch sports with. She woofs at the TV at the appropriate time, growls at the officials when they make a bad call. she paces during the commercials, and she only needs out at halftime. She also knows how to dodge flying objects which is probably the most important thing of all when it comes to watching any sports with me. She really likes UNC Tarheel basketball and Seattle Seahawks football. She really doesn't understand baseball and thinks it's boring. She doesn't know why the players don't stop and chew on the baseball for a while after they catch it or why they do not allow dogs on the field to enjoy a good game of catch.

Getting Mellow

Molly must be mellowing in her old age. Molly and the new roommie are bonding quite nicely and Molly actually looks forward to seeing her everyday. That does not mean that Mandy is worry free from getting snapped at once in a while and she is going to annoy the hell out of Molly but they have managed to meet in the middle somewhere. It is kind of refreshing to see. Molly and Mandy go out onto the balcony together and they lay on the carpet in the living room together so Molly is more accepting of her "sister" than when she first moved in.

Staking Her Claim

Throughout history people have been able to stake their claim to various pieces of land. The Gold Prospectors did it during the Gold Rush and Homesteaders did it in the Midwest after the Homestead Act in the mid-19th century. Dogs also do it but they may take it a little more seriously. I know Molly does and I have the nip marks to prove it. Molly usually stakes her claim in the middle of my bed and dares anyone to move her. If someone tries to move her, then someone is going to bleed and Molly is not particular as to who. Molly draws her line in the sand, circles the wagons, or however you want to phrase it, and that is it. I got nipped the other night when I tried moving her. Molly likes to fire "warning shots." I hate to see what would happen if she was really pissed.