Molly is four 1/2 years old now and one would think that
somewhere along the line, she would slow down and act like one of those old fat
Labradors that lay in the corner of the room and sleep and fart. That’s what I
have been waiting for but alas I don’t think Molly has heard about that stage
of a dog’s life. She is still stuck in high gear and shows no sign of slowing
down. Each day I take Molly for a walk and she likes to be off the leash. This
works fine as she stays out of the road and stops and sits when cars go by. But
there is an exception I can’t break her of. Meeting other people or other dogs.
She thinks she’s Miss Congeniality and when she sees someone, or something
else, well, in her mind at least, introductions are in order. Now, not everyone
takes to a seventy-pound Lab barreling down on you with baited breath. So when
we spot someone coming towards us, the leash has to go back on and she turns
into a sled dog. I usually retreat to the side of the road and kick two divots into
the ground to plant my heels in, otherwise we are both going to meet the new
people like it or not. If you are a new acquaintance the fervor is a little
more subdued then someone who is already in her friends and family book. But
make no mistake about it she wants you in there too.
Outside of squirrels, which she detests, other animals are
seen as playful companions too. Once, while off leash she spotted a skunk and
she was off to make his acquaintance. Now the encounter was out of my eyesight
but I saw her bounding towards him and I know she was saying, “Hey there cutie,
lets run around together.” I really dig that stripe you having going down your
back. I know she didn’t attack the
skunk because when she came back, her face dripping with that delectable juice,
it was only her face that got sprayed. Being she likes to check out the rear
quarters of all other animals first. I can only surmise that she found out the
hard way, there is a weapon at the end of that stripe. Not that she will ever
remember that.
She also likes to dig out pocket gophers and she’s quite
good at it. She checks all of the mounds looking for the freshest one. Finds
the back door and starts digging. I have spent fifteen minutes filling the hole
back in when she is done. She might as well have a Bobcat decal on her butt
once she starts the evacuation. She has caught one that she proudly brought up
and put on my back porch. “Sorry God but that is the most butt ugly creature
you ever created. I would have kept them underground most of the time too, if I
looked like that.”
So people ask me. “What is there about this over exuberant,
dimwitted dog that you like so much?” Maybe it’s just that she likes me so
much. Maybe it’s because she is so non--judgmental to a man with way too many
opinions. Maybe it’s because at the end of the day when she lays on the couch
with her head in my lap, she knows, she has a friend who appreciates her,
despite all of her many imperfections. Maybe its because she knows I always
take too much ice cream in the evening and she has to do me the favor of
finishing off the bowl. Maybe its because living by myself I need someone to
talk to and she never disagrees with me.
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