The Year Of The Dog

I am not exactly sure what year this is on the Chinese Calendar but Molly has turned this into the Year of the Dog. She naps all day, gets walked before I go to work, two or three times when I get home, steak, treats, and all of the other goodies off my plate. This is how you treat your best friend andhas been by your side the entire time.

Molly Takes Over

I took Molly with me to my sleep over last night. She promptly got out of the car upon our arrival, took two dumps in the yard (one in the driveway and one near the front door), thoroughly inspected the house, and pronounced the house the territory of Molly. When it came time to go to sleep, she planted herself in the middle of the bed and was asleep in under 30 seconds. That might be her last sleep over for a while. If you are going to do something, do it with style.

One Hyper Dog

I have no clue as to what makes dogd hyper but Molly was hyped up this afternoon when I got home. She has been eating the same food on the same schedule and everything else I can think of. She was pacing around the house this afternoon, wanting to go on walks and be petted, she was barking at me for no reason, but she did manage to lay down and take a nap with me. I am just hoping she lets me sleep in tomorrow morning.

Territory

World Wars have been fought over Territory and I guess my yard is no different. Molly wages this battle every day with the neighborhood mutts that wander through the yard. If we are outside, she puts them on the run. If we are inside, she lets them know with a series of barks that she sees them in our yard. Every once in a while the neighborhood mutts try to hold a peace conference with Molly and let her know they mean her (or me) no harm. It has worked for very few but this is Molly's Territory.

National Puppy Day

Molly celebrated National Puppy Day yesterday by getting several treats, a lot of belly rubs, and she took a dump in the neighbors yard. Some people may think that is a little extreme but the neighbor's dog is always getting into our garbage cans and strewing our garbage across the yard. I have told the owner of the dog about it but it happens at least three times a week. They pay me no attention.

I am not going to beat up on the dog or be mean to the dog because it is doing what dogs do but Molly and I will exact our revenge in different ways. I have thought about making a "Doggy DooDoo Catapult" (I may have to get a patent for that idea) where I can fling Molly's fresh piles onto the neighbor's front porch. Now that would be funny as hell. I may have to videotape that. A fresh Molly DooDoo bomb on their front porch, their front door, and car sounds like an awesome idea. So go ahead and get into my garbage, little white mutt.

A Great Day For A Run

My girlfriend and I took Molly on her late afternoon walk yesterday and for whatever reason, Molly was feeling really good yesterday and she wanted to run. I jogged along with her a little ways and then my girlfriend made the comment of "Who is leading who?" I gave her the leash and told her to "Have at it!" and Molly really took off then. I thought she was going to pull her down a couple of times. My girlfriend was panting and out of breath, I couldn't help but laugh. Molly's "frisky" days are few and far between now and it was good to see her feeling so good for at least one more day.

The Squirrel Barks Back

Molly and I were taking our usual afternoon walk the other day when we had an unusual encounter with a aquirrel. Molly has never really paid squirrels that much attention (she has always been more partial to rabbits) but that afternoon, the squirrel did not give ner much choice but to pay it some attention. We must have infringed on the squirrel's comfort zone because it was hopping from limb to limb and it was barking at us, showing it's displeasure. Molly started barking back (she is not going to take lip from a squirrel) and I finally had to pull Molly away. I wonder who won the argument?

Warming Up

Molly is starting to warmup to my girlfriend a little bit and for Molly, it is always the small gestures that she makes toward being your friend that say a lot. The other night my girlfriend was sitting on my couch and Molly walks up to her and puts her head on my girlfriend's lap and started wagging her tail. That only lasted about five seconds and contrary to popular belief, is not an open invitation to be petted. That will take time, a lot more time.

Today's Smell

I don't know what today's smell was but it got Molly all fired up. I took a walk up to the cottage on the property I live on and the construction crew is doing some landscaping in the yard up there. The excavation brought out some new smells from deep within the earth. Molly was so excited about it, she had to sprint back to the house and tell my roommate about it. Molly was trying to run and because of my foot, I cannot even do a fast walk anymore so that was quite comical in itself.

Living Longer

Most experts will tell you that pet owners live longer, healthier lives. I can believe that. Having a dog is very stress relieving. When I get home from a hard day at work, Molly and I take long walks. I talk about my day and she listens. I take her out two or three more times before I go to bed and the stress slowly melts away.

When I lived in my last apartment, I had one of my neighbors tell me that he liked to see me walking my dog because we actually got out and walked. Molly and I were all over that complex. If my neighbors saw me, they saw Molly. We have always been a package deal.

Which Direction?

I was talking with a blogger friend of mine last night and we started talking about which direction we wanted our blogs to go in. I started Molly's World first but it has never really had a clear cut direction.

If I ask Molly which direction we should go, she is always going to pick the direction that the most interesting smells are coming from. Maybe that is the direction I should take my blog. Maybe I should follow Molly's actions and let her lead by example. I will go in the direction where the most interesting smells are coming from.

A Turf War

My girlfriend stayed over this weekend and I told her when we went to bed that she needed to get into the position she wanted to sleep in before Molly got situated or she would get any sleep that night. When Molly picks her spot, she is not moving. Molly's spot usually is the middle of the bed, stretched straight across, allowing you one edge or the other. My girlfriend did not learn her lesson the first night. The second night went a little bit smoother as I was able to coerce Molly onto the bottom corner while everyone else got the position we wanted. That is a lot of work just to be able to go to sleep. It was much easier last night when it was just me and Molly.

10,000 Page Views And Counting

Molly's World reached 10,000 page views the other day. I have been writing this blog more than any other because this blog started out as an experiment of style and it has never been quite what I envisioned it to be. It started out as lame and I think may have gotten lamer as time went on. I believe over half of the views must be my own because it is hard to get that many views on only a readership of seven. They say write about what you know and I know my dog Molly. We both live hum drum lives but Molly continually fascinates me in the things that she does and trhe "insights" (so to speak) that she offers on life.

Time To Bond

I have told everyone that I date that my dog Molly and I are a package deal. That sounds a little extreme to non dog lovers but Molly has been around for almost thirteen years and they haven't. My new girlfriend and Molly are trying to bond and I'll be the frirst to admit that Molly does not make it easy. By bonding time, I mean Molly chaperones everything we do from laying down and watching a movie to sleeping at night. I spent all of last night wedged in between Molly on one side who was not going to give up a square inch of bed space to my girlfriend who was sleeping on the edge of the bed anyway. It was not exactly the "Dan Sandwich" I had envisioned. Molly is slowly getting used to my girlfriend's presence and I told both of them that they were going to have to work it out.

Nap Time

All I have to do is say the word "Nap" and Molly will jump up and sprint into the bedroom like her hair is on fire. No matter how many times I lay down in a day, Molly is right there beside me. She doesn't want the demons in my sleep to take me out I guess.

Molly knows how to nap whether it be all stretched out or all curled up or flat out on her back. I wish I could sleep that well but if I get up, she usually joins me no matter which direction I go. As I long to tell my girlfriend, that is why I have a dog.

Halftime

Molly knows when sports are on, I walk her at halftime. Today she decided to take "the long and winding road" to quote the Beatles. She also stopped to smell all of the roses to quote whoever else. The problem with that is there are no roses to smell yet. Seeing me trying to "encourage" Molly to come back to the house so I could make it back in time for the start of the second half must have been quite a sight. Molly then decided that she needed to fertilize the unbloomed rose. We did not make it back in time for the start of the second half.

One Scary Dog

I was out walking Molly this afternoon and I ran into the Construction Foreman on the property I live on. Molly usually barks at him every time she sees him for about five minutes until she barks herself out. I was standing there talking to him and Molly didn't make a sound. She took a few steps towards the guy and he started backing up. He says "No offense but your dog scares the hell out of me." Molly evidently tried biting him the first time she ever saw him and that was it for the both of them. How could the cute dog Molly scare anybody?

What Did You Do Today?

My girlfriend came over this afternoon and Molly greeted her at the door with a woof and a smile and even playfully jumped up at her. My gf looks at her and asks "So Molly, what did you do today?"

That brought to mind all sorts of things Molly might have done but if I was to guess I would say she flipped her dog food bowl over into the floor as soon as I left for work, she settled down and napped on my bed, napped on my roommate's bed until I got home, and then went for several walks, Had a steak dinner, and now she is taking her pre-bedtime nap. That sounds like a full day.

Molly And Monty Python

When I take Molly on her rounds in the afternoon's, it takes us by a small patch of woods with a group of houses on the other side. At one of these houses, a couple of ankle biter wanna be's reside and everytime they see Molly, they come to the edge of their driveway and yap at Molly until we are out of sight. One of them does not want to get to close because she has already put one of them on the run in the past.

When they start their yapping, Molly looks at them with as much indifference as a dog can possibly muster, promptly points her ass in their direction, and has a healthy bowel movement. I cannot help but think of the line from one of the Monty Python movies when the knight in the castle yells down to the soldiers "I fart in your general direction!" Molly gets her point across the only way she knows how.

Down By The River

Molly and I had a chance to take a walk down to the river this morning for the first time in about a month due to snow and ice and anything else Mother Nature could throw at us. It is a short but fairly steep grade down to the river and since they have cleared a lot of the undersbrush out, there is a lot we have to be on the look out for. That comes mostly in the form of trip hazards such as stumps, saplings that have been cut off, and the like.

There is nothing better than taking a nice, quiet walk with your dog. We can hear the birds, the gurgling river, dogs barking in the background, and me huffing and puffing because I can't catch my wind from all of the walking. It is a beautiful day and Molly and I got to spend some of it together, just me and her.

Molly Is Always There For Me

Today was an extremely disappointing day. It was so bad that the day dominated my thoughts on my way home. I tried to put a positive spin on it and reason it out but it just could not be done. I have never been known as much of a "spinmaster" anyway but this was impossible, without the help of narcotics anyway.

No matter how bad my day has been, as soon as I walk through the door, Molly lumbers into the living room to greet me. She greets me with a wag of the tail and a hip bump and a nuzzle of my hand. That lets me know that Molly is here now and it is time to put my day behind me.

She immediately wants to be taken for a walk and that in itself is very stress living. If Molly doesn't like the way something smells, then she take a whiz on it. I can't physically take a whiz on it but maybe I can take the symbolic whiz because this whole day had a bad odor to it.

Writer's Block

Usually Molly always gives me something decent to write about, I can't say good or great most of the time, because she really doesn't get into any kind of puppy trouble anymore. Molly is at least worthy of a few lines. I am going to take the plunge this weekend and take her over to my girlfriend's house. I sat both of them down the other day and told them that they were going to have to start spending some time together whether they liked it or not. They are going to have to learn to like each other. We'll see how that goes.

I Need Out

There is nothing in the world like your dog kicking on the door at 2 AM letting you know that she needs out now. I dutifully got up, got dressed, we took a whiz on the same tree (hey, we were outside), and then to add insult to injury, I stepped in a big pile of dog doodoo on the way back in the house. I did not discover that until this morning. On the bright side, I did see an opossum trying to break into my next door neighbor's house. At least I think it was a 'possum. At 2 AM, I might have been having acid flashbacks (just kidding).

Molly's Rules

Whenever I say something halfway authoritative to my girlfriend, I back it up with the phrase "Dan's rules!" like that is going to make a difference. My girlfriend has realized over the course of the past four months that it is "Molly's rules" that carry the most weight around my household.

Molly's rules are pretty simple. She eats when she wants, she sleeps when and where she wants, and she makes me take her out at her leisure, and if it is raining, I have to hold an umbrella over her while we are walking. My girlfriend really thinks that is funny but me holding the umbrella is really self serving. If she comes into the house all wet, I am the one that has to towel her dry and she smells like wet dog all day long. Molly's World and Molly's Rules.