We wanted to get a puppy because my 10 year old son was a little scared of dogs. We didn't want a pure bred...we wanted a mutt. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find mutt puppies. We read the papers looking for ads for weeks. Finally we found an ad for mixed breed puppies for adoption at some Feed Store about an hour away, so off we went. There were a bunch of puppies and a mother that had been rescued. The puppies were darling, but it was darn hard to tell exactly what breeds were involved, even with the mother there. There was obviously some shepherd and something black. That's about all we knew. People were fighting for these puppies. You had to fill out forms and get interviewed. The family in front of us was actually rejected because they had 4 kids under 5 years old and they lived on a busy street with no fence. They cried. It was sick. Plus, we're talking a $140.00 donation to get this cur*. Anyway, we got ours and brought her home . We couldn't decide on a name. After the 4th day, Mr. Q went out to Home Depot and came back with paint chips the color of the dog. That's how we came up with "Mocha" for her name. She scratched like a lunatic from the moment we got her home. Little did we know that she had scabies (mange) and the little mites hatched as soon as she got into a heated environment. That cost about 300 dollars to clear up. Then we had her fixed....another 300. It was clear from the first day that this was not a cute pup. This was a feisty dog who wanted to do things her way. So, we started training. $600.00 later, she passed the "good manners" test. Kind of. She ran away every time we opened the door and her bark and demeaner was such that she scared the pants off anyone she ran past. We got an "Invisible Fence", to the tune of $1,000.00. It works great, but now she whizzes on the lawn instead of in the woods where I'd walk her and we have yellow patches all over.

Mocha is not endearing but she's growing on us. She likes to play ball outside and prefers basketballs. Yes, she can get one in her mouth somehow. She steals everything and eats it. Knee High Stockings are a favoritie delicacy, as are hair scrunchies. If you try to take them away from her, she quickly swallows them. When the girls ask where their scrunchies are, I can, with complete confidence, tell them to look in the back yard. Everything that goes in this dog definitely comes out a few days later. My back yard is littered with the things she's eaten and expelled. I just flick it all into the woods. The girls don't wear scrunchies any more. We've adapted to the dog, not vice versa.

I will say, it's nice to have a dog in the house when I get home. Its not like she greets me or anything. She sits on the couch like a sphinx and expects me to come to her. But she has an evil bark and I think it works better than an alarm system. She can sit and lie down and balance a biscuit on her nose, flip it and eat it. She also likes to chew on the sprinkler heads when the system is on. She ruined a head today. Don't tell Mr.Q. That's another $40.00 plus $65.00 fee for coming out. Expensive dog. But my son isn't afraid of dogs anymore. I guess she's been a good investment. Ask me again in about 5 years.

*Cur: dog of unknown origin. At least, that's what SuziQ says!

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