Her energy, personality & essence of Love....

I can never fully understand how quickly things change for a dog, good or bad. It's one minute this and the next that....it's hard to accept when bad happens, but it's also the same rationale that makes it hard for us to accept that good things are happening too.

Last week I was at an event & I found myself telling a story of Millie, well - both my dogs. My property borders a small pond on the East/South side. I have lived her 11 years and up until this summer the property was so heavily set with cedars you could only see the pond in the winter. Every morning Millie would literally disappear in this fenced in backyard and I could never see her - the trees and brush were so thick she disappeared into the abyss out there. Then I discovered last year she was just sitting down by the pond watching it - watching the weather roll in or just by us - watching birds, frogs and whatever other wildlife was awake when she did her 6:00 a.m. sit. She found a nice perch, the only flat piece of property down there - it's a steep hillside down to the pond and there she sat - until she was ready to come back in for breakfast. Often she did this in the darkness of nite....many times I put on boots, overcoat, gloves, scarf, hat and armed with a flashlight went to find her....and there she'd be...calmly sitting, watching, taking it all in and just enjoying the view. She had found the best piece of real estate on the property - and it was her special secret spot - and there I come out to disturb her quiet enjoyment and bring her back in the house.

Last week was no exception. At 5:30 a.m. at still blackness, she and Sissy went out for the first outing, only to begin barking up a storm. Millie's bark is a single almost femine soft arf, but Sissy howls like a wolf - when the two get going, it's like a pack is loose and chasing wild game. Our lots here are not big, prob 1/2 acre so I have neighbors close by, probably trying to stay asleep. I grab a sweater, flashlight, shoes and I'm off to go down to the bottom of the hill and hopefully back both girls off some prey - and I'm praying it's not a raccoon or worse, a skunk.

As I climb down this hill almost losing balance and falling several times I can hear I am getting closer - the barking increases and it's louder and louder...then it stops...I'm calling their names thinking I should have taken some form of weapon to defend myself or them from whatever it is they have found and backed into defensive mode...when suddenly there is a silence....followed by....Quack...Quack. My 2 resident ducks on my little pond were swimming aimlessly, effortlessly, obviously unaware all the noise was for their behalf. So begins my understanding of what she is preoccupied by as she stares at the pond. She's found more beauty in this piece and the ducks seem to know that both dogs are really harmless....

I was so fascinated by the view this year I took down 18 trees and staired the trek down to the pond - it's 23 stone steps now...and built 2 retaining walls and a patio at the bottom - so now I have Millie's view...but don't you know she won't use it...she finds the one spot at the bottom of the yard that has remained covered with brush - and now I realize she's hiding from the ducks - so she can suprise them sometime....and keep her secret activity hidden...from me.