calamity Jane aka Molly

Need I say more? (I'll post this pic as soon as blogger cooperates)

Actually this is better than it was last night. I have already removed nearly 2/3 of what she had in her face. Just the ones around her nose and mouth remain. But this is Chapter 8 in the continuing saga of Molly and the porcupines. I'm going with the theory that her nose is pushed too far back in her face and she just has to get so close before she can smell things better, that she, well...she gets too close.

I'm sure Misty, on the other hand, knew all about the porcupine last night from yards away and had no intention of getting too close again. She has had, to my count, only two encounters: one morning, on a walk with my former housemate, Ann, and her dog Tasha, she stumbled upon a porker in the long grass and got maybe 6 quills in her front legs mostly. (Tasha, Ann's dog, one of the most intelligent border collies I have ever met, also go a few that day.) And just the other day, when my friends Kim and Melody were here, Misty came home after our walk with one quill above her ear.

Misty was a stray, so I don't know her story before I got her. Plus, there seems to be a lot of beagle-lore stored in her brain that keeps her from getting in trouble in the same way Molly does.

Molly is sweetly stubborn. Like a lovable pig, she has an oral fixation, chewing constantly when we walk, on grass or on snow, whatever the season offers. She sashays along on our walks, huffing and snuffling at interesting scents, then runs to catch up to me. Sometimes, Misty's excited barking sets her off and Molly barrels towards the sound like a charging football player.

Misty dances around in circles, flying into the woods, tail high like a little white flag, nose to the ground, tongue hanging out of a laughing mouth. She comes back to us to urge us along, hurry, hurry, hurry, so many wonderful scents to explore, leaping over fences or fallen trees. Sometimes I see her balancing on the top rail of a fence, looking back at us, always happy, eyes sparkling:

"Are you coming? I can't wait for you guys, you're so slow. I'll go on ahead and check back with ya in a minute! Gotta go!"

Molly just is a stinky dog (her coat seems to attract dirt), while Misty deliberately seeks out the stinkiest cow-pies etc to roll in. Except for the rubbing stink all over herself intentionally once in a while, for the most part, dirt doesn't seem to stick to Misty in the same way.

The more I think about it, the weirder it seems that I love these doggies at all! I mean, unlike children, they aren't going to grow up and move away! I'll be stuck with their messes until...oh, I'll admit it, when they die I'll be a blubbering mess of grief. I've been through that enough with other pets to know I'm hopelessly attached.