Molly Dog

Our neighbors adopted Molly from a shelter but as often as she could, Molly would come and visit me. She often helped me do chores and I would take her back home before I went back in the house. Our neighbors loved Molly and had good intentions but she was indoors all day while they were at work. Their other dogs handled this fine but Molly didn't. They were unable to keep her in a crate and she did a lot of damage while loose in their house.

One Sunday afternoon in June, I got a tearful phone call from the neighbor's daughter. Molly and their Staffie, Rupert, had gotten in a fight over a toy. Rupert got the worst of it and was in surgery. Molly was scheduled to be put to sleep. They didn't want to but didn't feel like they had any choice. Would I take Molly?

After work I walked over to their house to get Molly. She was hiding under the dining room table where she'd been ever since the incident. She came right to me and I took her home.

I started taking Molly for runs with the ATV. First just a mile, then two and she just kept going. We have BLM land a couple of miles behind our house and eventually I  let her run off leash ahead of the ATV there. Molly ran and ran some more. I think there was a smile on her face the whole time. We bought a Yamaha Rhino so we could all go out together. Once she was in shape, Molly ran  20 - 40 miles a week - her choice of speed and distance. This was consistent for a year and a half. Needless to say, she's buff.

An unusually snowy, icy, cold winter this year has made it hard to get Molly out consistently for her runs but she's been ok with it. She lays on the couch and watches a lot of Animal Planet. She helps me do chores and races up and down the stacks of hay and straw bales. She looks for mice and barks at the birds in the barn.

We think Molly's the perfect dog and don't know what we would do without her now. She's good with the horses and made friends with the donkey. She likes the mini horse because she can lick her nose. She's a wonderful trail dog when I ride. She's polite when  neighborhood dogs come in our yard and when she meets strange dogs on the trail. And she loves visitors - especially if they leave their car/truck door open and she can get in and snoop around. And of course, she does a great job of taking up most of the bed at night!

Funny how the perfect dog finds you when you're not looking and don't even think you need a dog.