The Barker and The Bolter

Mama Kat's writing prompts for the week:

1.) In the book I’m reading,Girls of Tender Age,the main character is deeply affected by the murder of a childhood friend. Describe a tragedy you didn't expect to be as deeply affected by as you are.

2.) Tell us about a day you were sure you wouldn’t get through.

3.) A time when you should have listened to your mother.

4.) Your pets least likable character trait.

5.) 10 Reasons why you love your job.

Y'all know I love my dogs so I couldn't resist another chance to write about the two little hounds again so I went with number 4, my pets' least likable character traits. 

We adopted them 11 months ago from a dachshund rescue group, DRNA.

Brisco "Big Boy" Darling and his sidekick, Charlene "Li'l Bit" Darling...

Li'l Bit is a priss pot. She likes, or at least tolerates, my dressing her up like the little girl I never had and she refuses to go out and do her bizness in the rain and she has a bad habit of peeing in the floor or on my person when she gets overly excited that I have returned from the great big world on the other side of the door.

Her least likable character trait? This would be her high pitched bark that she often uses to express herself...


Hey, look at me! I'm NOT little! I'm NOT! Hey...YOU! The boy that lives here, that I see every single day, that just walked in from the other room...Yes, I know I know you but I'm barking like a manic fool anyway!!! ARF! ARF! arf...arf...arf..arf arf!

Why in the H. E. double hockey sticks she insists on barking when someone, anyone, re-enters a room is a complete and total mystery to me.

Now let's talk about Mr. Darling. He's a Lover. That little wiener loves every.single.person. he meets and I feel quite sure he would be perfectly okay with a burglar walking up in our home and taking everything we own as long as they gave him a belly rub and an ear scratch.

He LOVES to be outside because I think that he believes, deep down in his little wiener heart, that one of these days, if he just sits out there in the backyard long enough that one of those squirrels will surrender itself to him.

He has a fondness for red dirt and for getting it all over his little paws and tracking it all over the house and on the furniture and on my white pants...

But his LEAST likable character trait is one that I find complete and utter INSANITY! We were forewarned by his foster family that he is a bolter.

Yep. A BOLTER!

They did not lie.

He's got it made here. I mean, come on! I would want me as a dog mom if I were a dog. He's loved, petted often, sleeps in the big bed with us, is fed the special dog food, gets to ride in the car to take the boy people to school every morning, has his own big backyard with a great big fence put up just for him. That wiener hit the wiener dog jackpot when he landed here.

But he CANNOT RESIST an open door to the world outside the fence. If the front doorbell rings I'm all... "WAIT! WAIT! Where's Brisco? Let me get Brisco before you open that door! "

People. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that he runs faster than Speedy Gonzalez on a six pack of Red Bull and a bottle of speed if he sees an opportunity.

Every single one of us has chased that crazy wiener through the woods, through briars, through poison oak and ivy and a cold creek and the good Lord knows what else.

For the Love of God!  WHAT is he running for?  WHO is he running for? I mean, you'd think he just dug his way out of Alcatraz with a posse of 10 armed men and a pack of wild wolves on his trail. 

And did I mention the shedding? 
Ahhh...For the Love of Dogs....