Sassy Dogs!

By Kyle Dinwiddie

Today I am dedicating this to my two pugs, Elizabeth and Maximums. I got Max for my birthday several years ago. He has been and still is a joy to me. The name Max came from a Disney movie, Tangled. And in this movie, there is a tall, white horse named…..you guessed it….Maximums! And this is the beginning for my fourth blog. I hope you will like it.

One morning there was a knock at the door. It was the mailman. Usually this is an exciting thing, meaning that there is something too big to fit into our mailbox. But that wasn’t the case that morning. With much regret in his voice, he said sadly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see him”. Max was struck by the mail truck.

Yep!

“BUT HE SURVIVED.”

I’m not kidding with you! Although he did lose an eye, he was fine. And I was so happy that my pet was okay.

But a year later, my older brother came home in his red Camaro barreling down our road like a NASCAR driver.

Vroom! Vroom!

Loving the challenge, Max barked and raced with the car until….well….you guessed it….he got hit!

Yep!

“BUT HE SURVIVED.”

But this time, he lost a leg! Now, he is a one eyed, three legged bundle of joy.

I do have another dog named Decker. Decker wasn’t too interested in Max. He is a collie mix, and loves to roam. In fact, many times he wouldn’t come home for days. When Decker is home, he barks all night. This usually gets Max riled up. Poor Max just sits by the bedroom window growling and barking. With only one eye and three legs, I’m sure the dark can be very frightening. Decker too, loves to chase. Maybe this is where Max picked it up.

To get a friend for Max is the reason why we brought Elizabeth, our little female pug, home. The problem was she wasn’t interested in Max, either. She was very interested in Fudge, Decker’s son.

Yep! Obviously, Decker was disappearing because he had a family, and decided to bring his son home to live with us, too. I called him Fudge.

One night all four of them were barking at something, and my mom ran outside to silence them.

“QUIET!”

There was silence.

But all of a sudden, “ROOF! ROOF!”

Fudge quickly hurried to the right side of the house and barked at my mom. Not too smart. Huh?

My mom yelled at him, “NO!”

“ROOF!”

“NO!”

“ROOF!”

“NO!”

This went on until Fudge slithered away with his tail between his legs to the other side of the well house.

“ROOF!”

But this time it wasn’t Fudge. It was Elizabeth. She was right in front of my mom. She seemed quite determined to continue this argument with her. After all, my mom was yelling at her boyfriend.

“NO!” my mom continued.

Elizabeth looked over to the well house, and waited. Then she looked at my mom, “ROOF!”

“NO!”

Once again she looked over to the well house and waited.

Nothing.

She looked at my mother, and then lay down next to the flower box.

And then finally, silence.

Fudge, the trouble maker, disappeared a few months later. He was a roamer like his dad.

Decker doesn’t seem to be as interested in roaming as much anymore, but he still fills the night with his barking.

My joyous Maximums has finally given up the chase. Instead he sits happily guarding the kitchen window, and spying in to see what I’m doing or eating.

While Max is a survivor, I can’t say that for my sweet, sassy Elizabeth. In the summer of 2015, one of our neighbors came for a visit in his truck and accidentally ran over her. He didn’t see her. She will forever be missed.

God has made many marvelous animals with their own personalities, but it seems as if some of them can be rather “SASSY”.

We all like to know that someone has your back and will to stand up for us. And just like Elizabeth there is nothing wrong with being a little SASSY sometimes, either.