Miss Molly, Our Muppet and Rescue Dog

When I spoke of coincidence, I promised y’all that I would dedicate a post to our dog, Molly.

Let me tell you more about her.

But first let me say this:  I never thought I’d ever own a long-haired dog.  I personally prefer short-haired dogs because there’s less maintenance involved, but Molly decided to choose us.

After she showed up at our place, and I fell in love with her and tearfully convinced Mark that we should adopt her (or at least foster her), we tricked her with food to get her inside our fenced back yard.    Tricking her was necessary because she was wild and terrified.  She had to be socialized before anyone, including us, would consider adopting her.

Granted, she doesn’t look terrified in the photos below.  That’s because we used a zoom lens!  She wouldn’t come near us.

It took a few weeks before she would willingly come near us.  She hid under our mudroom, far out of our reach.

As soon as we could, we took her to the veterinarian and discovered that she was still very much a puppy.     She still had her baby teeth!  The vet estimated that she was less than 3 months old.  Thankfully, he diagnosed her as healthy.

We cornered her one day when she was just learning to trust us.  She badly needed a bath.   Badly.   Getting bathed for the first time was very traumatic for her — she literally screamed.  I’d never heard or seen a dog that scared, and it hurt my heart and made me cry.    Still, she got her first bath.    I’ve never seen so many fleas on one dog in my life.   Afterwards, we praised her and gave her treats and she recovered quickly.

She still doesn’t like to be bathed, but she tolerates it.  Speaking of which, she looks like a completely different dog when she’s wet.  Maybe she’s part terrier.  She sure looks like a terrier — she has a speckled belly like Kacy does.    I’ve thought about buying a Mixed Breed DNA Test Kit and having her tested just because I’m curious.

Several days later, she was living inside with us and Kacy and seemed so relieved and happy to have been rescued.   Her body language sure seemed to say so.

We have taken her to the dog park a few times.  While Kacy loves it, Molly doesn’t like it one bit.  Well, she didn’t at first.  She’s coming around.

It’s not that she’s not socialized.  Meeting one or a few dogs on a walk with us is fine — she loves it.  However, when she’s around too many dogs, it totally freaks her out.

She’s now very happy to be a member of our little family.  She won’t even leave our fenced backyard she knows we’re both leaving with Kacy.    We’ve tried to let her roam free when we’re out on our acreage, but it’s like she’s saying, “Oh, no, I’ve been out there before and it’s a scary place to be.  I’ll stay right here, thank you very much.”

Heck, she doesn’t even like to be outside for long.

Kacy and Molly are good pals and spend a lot of time together.  Most of the time.

Like typical sisters, the two have spats from time to time.  It’s usually Kacy who gets jealous of Molly, especially at night when she gets tired and needy.

We have a lot of nicknames for Molly.  We call her Muppet because her hair is always so out of control!

Mark is so good about brushing her.  Afterwards, she looks beautiful, but that lasts for maybe 5 minutes, and then . . .

Well, let’s just say that there’s no hope for that hair!

Another nickname Mark has for her is “side winder”.    “Hey, Side Winder”, he’ll say as she wags her entire body with joy at the sight of us . . . or food.  Yes, she is about the most food-motivated dog I’ve ever seen, probably because she was half starved early in life.    We really have to watch her food intake to make sure she doesn’t get fat!

We also call her “Goofy” from time to time.  She can be exactly that.  We laugh a lot when she’s around.

One of my family members commented the first time she saw Molly, “Gosh, she’s not very pretty.”   Well, yeah, technically she’s not.  She’s a mess.    However, she’s a very pretty dog in her own way.  She has the biggest brown eyes, and she is the sweetest dog.  Even saying that doesn’t capture how incredibly sweet and gentle she is.

She also minds our commands almost instantly (unlike Kacy who has a mind of her own).

Yeah, we’re glad she found us.  We love her dearly.

P.S.  In the interest of full disclosure, this post contains affiliate links.

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