Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Fur baby mom and pops understand the love we share with our furry little family members. Mine happens to be a dog. Kasha McCoy is an Australian Shepherd mix and the best dog on earth. 🙂 I know– All of us fur parents think our baby is the best, and they are to us. Today I decided to post some of her dog antics. I told her I was telling on her and she gave me that, “Talk to the paw” look.

My dog really is my son’s dog, but I lived with him for the past four years, and I consider her mine since we’ve been together almost 24/7 for those years. My son fell in love with a girl who has cats. Did I mention this dog doesn’t like cats? Some of these antics are from the past. She has mellowed out this past year, and so far since she and I have moved, she hasn’t gotten into anything. She goes through her days sleeping, eating, following me from room to room, and she looks forward to walks.

1. She came into my son’s life when she was ten months old–a rowdy shelter dog. They told him at the shelter that she got out of a six-foot high fenced area. I fell in love upon the first sight of her.

2. In her early days, she’d chew anything that looked inviting such as TV remote controls and watches.

3. A three pound half-frozen turkey breast set out to thaw. She ate the whole thing, even the netting. This was my fault because I forgot to put it out of reach when I left. I called Poison Control. She was okay.

4. She loves bread and will steal the bag if she can get to it. (Lessons learned. Now it’s stored out of sight, or at least out of reach.)

The scariest thing she’s ever done:
5. Turned the gas stove on. Once again, she went for the bread on the back of the stove. She somehow must have pushed in and turned the knob at the same time. The house was filled with the smell of gas when I came home. Thank God there was no flame. I was terrified and rushed around opening all the doors and windows, and took us both outside. After that, I removed the knobs from the stove unless I was cooking. One day I had this short conversation with my son…

Son: “Mom, where are the stove knobs?”
Me: “I put them on the back of the sink so she can’t turn the stove on anymore.”
Son: “What do you think she’s going to do, put them back on.” Yep. That’s my boy.

6. Second scariest thing… In the beginning, she’d get out of her kennel when he went to work. After twice of doing this, and getting her paw caught, my son gave up on the kennel so she didn’t hurt herself trying. She can’t stand to be in a closed area. Since she is a rescue dog, we have no way of knowing what she went through in her previous home to make her hate it so much.

7. Prior to the incident above: Our little darlin’ ate my son’s Easter basket candy. It was on the counter on top of something else, and she got out of her kennel, climbed on it, and got the basket. Luckily, he had removed the chocolate. (I admit, I made a basket for my adult son.)

8. Gets into bathroom trash to punish us when we go away (Now the trash is kept under the sink in the vanity, but she hasn’t done this in a long time.)

9. She frowns when I tell her I have to leave. Yes, I can see the frown. Even her body language shows her displeasure at being alone. She leaps to the couch and won’t look at me. When I come home with any form of dog food or treats, she knows which bag to look in.

10. Gets a new toy out and takes it to the person who bought it for her. My son’s girlfriend brings her toys, and when she comes to visit, Kasha digs through her toys and finds the one given to her by the girlfriend and takes it to her to play. She did this with my son the last time he came over, and took him the toy he brought her for Christmas. (This pink star toy was from the girlfriend.

11. She does not like squirrels. At the other house, they’d sit in the tree and chatter at her. Once, she caught one, but I rescued it.

12. Before I moved in, she broke out the inside window pane trying to get to the mailman. She was okay. The mailman left a note telling my son. Today, she lies on the couch without a fuss and watches the mail lady fill up the row of mailboxes. We’ve even walked by her and Kasha pays her no mind.

13. She’s a herder dog and thinks she has to herd all the animals she sees on TV, by barking and running up to the TV, sometimes jumping at it. She’ll turn around to make sure I saw her do a good job.

Now, she lives with me and has adjusted to our new living arrangement, but I know she misses my son. My apartment complex has large wooded areas surrounding the place, so she seems to love our daily walks.

She is ill with a suspected brain tumor and takes steroids, but she is filled with determination and spunk. She’s twelve years old and suffers from the effects of aging, too. I will cherish each day I have with her.

When I took this picture below, I pictured her saying, “Mom, make this deep snow go away.” But, not long after, I realized she was ill and her whole personality had changed. Two days on her medication from the neurological vet, she had become her old self again. The vet told us we might have her for a year and the medication was a band-aid, not a cure. This month is a year since I had noticed the changes.

Note: As a tribute to my loving fur baby, I have given her a role in an upcoming book.

Thank you for stopping by today. Have a fabulous upcoming weekend.