It’s Good To Be A Mooch

Life can’t get any better for my dog.  Except for maybe more frequent trips to the beach.  A dog is a wonderful companion to have around.  I named my dog Mooch for obvious reasons.  What dog doesn’t sit at the dinner table and beg for food? 

Mooch was raised in a very calm atmosphere, with lots of love and gentle discipline.  She can ‘smack me some paw’ in a high five.  She speaks in three different tones.  Her vocabulary seems unlimited.  She can do an impression of an Evinrude.  Grumble like an alligator.  She knows when her grandma Dee is coming over.  I’ve even trained her to be careful not to scare the squirrels when she goes out the back door for potty time. She’s so smart she’s scary.  But mostly she is gentle and loving to everything and everyone.  Except those darn raccoons.  She’s an all around good dog.  She’s gorgeous and she knows it.  Everyone tells her so all the time.  But she doesn’t let it go to her head like some other dogs do.  You know, like poodles.

Mooch is no lap dog.  She’s sixty pounds.  But she will still try to get in my lap during a thunderstorm. I’m sure she still remembers being a puppy and lying on my chest for some snuggle time.  She still likes nothing better than to snuggle.  The perk of lying in bed with mom and dad and watching television in the evening is that she doesn’t even have to get up to get a snack.  Whatever mom and dad are eating, Mooch gets to nibble, too.  I watch my husband lay a potato chip in front of Mooch’s nose.  Without lifting her head, Mooch inches her lips forward, nabs the chip off the blanket, and munches away with hardly having to move at all.  What a life! I wish my life were so easy.  It’s definitely good to be a Mooch.  Still, there are times when I think my husband and I are a little cracked when it comes to Mooch.  It’s pretty pathetic to give your dog snacks while she snuggles up in bed.  I guess you have to be a dog owner to understand.  I think all dog owners end up losing their marbles over their dogs at some point in life.  I wonder if I will ever get my marbles back?  <big grin> 

She has been raised in such a loving home that during walks, if other dogs bark at her, she doesn’t seem to understand that they are trying to chase her off.  She just looks at them, then looks at me like, “hey, mom, what are they barking at, huh?”

She gets to go for car rides, chase her Frisbee, sit and watch the koi, the squirrels, the eagles soaring overhead.  She’s definitely loving life.  Yep, it is good to be a Mooch.  But mostly…it’s good to have a Mooch.  I wouldn’t trade her for the world.  She is absolutely one of the best things for my husband right now.  When she snuggles up to my husband, puts her head on his shoulder and looks deeply into his eyes, she’s letting him know how much she adores him.  For just a few minutes…the unconditional love she offers helps him forget that he has cancer.  And that is a priceless moment.

Copyright 2008 C. D. Blizzard              Visit  www.cdblizzard.com

C. D. Blizzard is the author of the novels Blackwater, Profile, and Broken.