This is no big adventure tale. Just a vignette of life with Murphy. It is cool here this morning, about 40F and a light rain. When my OH took Murphy out earlier, around 7 AM the guys were hunting down by the creek. Even though it is fairly populated in this area hunting is allowed along most of the tidal creeks. Murphy is not crazy about gunfire. He used to make a beeline for the door, nowadays he just stops playing for a while. So this morning he did not get a lot of exercise. About 9 AM I sat down at my computer and it was not long before he came nosing around. He is very polite, comes up, flaps his ears to make sure I know he is there and then sits down staring at me. If I disregard that for a few, well then I get a paw on the leg. That is the way it went this morning. I asked him what he wanted to do? What do you want? He headed over to a drawer where we keep his leash and gave me the "look". Ok, so we are going for a walk. Got myself together, put on my rain slick and away we went. We have a good neighborhood to walk in. So we meandered along, him sniffing to his heart's content. Like I read in one of the books, walking the dog is about the dog, so I let him sniff away. As we were heading back my wife came by in the car. He knows the sound of that car before he sees it. He alerted, ears all perked up, looked at me, tail started wagging like crazy. She stopped, said hello and off we went again. When we got back (we come in through the garage) he let me know we also needed to go outside for a bit more exercise. In one side, out the other! We played tennis ball for a bit and then he decided it was time to go inside and dry off. But, we were not done yet. Time to play some "football" and "green monkey" with an old balled up sock for variety. After that, a drink and a nosh. Got himself situated on the ottoman near the fireplace and is now quietly snoring and occasionally keeping an eye for the OH's return. And THAT is exactly why we have Murphy. A real companion, someone who will get me off my backside to just take a walk and play a bit. Oh, a bit of digression. On Christmas day our neighbor lady and her daughter came over to give Murphy a present of some chew toys. They had wrapped them up. When they came in the daughter said "Oh, let me unwrap them for him." I explained to her that one of the fun things about Murphy is that he unwraps his own presents. She got out her cellphone and recorded it, when he was done she said "I am getting him something every year, and it is going to have a lot more wrapping paper!" Take note that they did not bring my OH or me any presents, LOL.
What a lovely post to read ! The joys of owning a Labrador know no bounds , they are so wonderful at enriching our lives and the lives of others too , without ever knowing the powers they possess . I do so miss having a Labrador around , no , I miss having Sam around and maybe one day when I feel ready , I will know that joy once more .
It sounds like you and Murphy have a great relationship. Thanks for posting this heart-warming vignette.
Sounds like murphy is one hell of a lab I have to say that I just can not be without my own lab we have a choc lab called beth in the family and I lost my black lab Mia around 5 weeks ago (my gun dog and best friend in this world)I've now got another black lab called Ella who is just 9 weeks old and will keep me on my toes with training ect
A little later on I remembered that it was time to head over to the vet's to get his nails done. So we called and they said c'mon over any time this afternoon. Murphy really likes the vet, new people, new dogs, cats, who knows??? In the three years we have been going there it is fun to see how he has changed his behavior. From a nutty puppy to a guy who sits politely between my legs or just lays down and waits for someone to notice him. He got his tests while we were at it, a few shots and an examination. The young guy who trimmed his nails said "Watch this. . ." (I usually do not go in with him when they do nails so I was curious). He asked Murphy to lay down, which he did. Then he said "Belly Rub?" Murphy rolled on his side. While the young lady did his nails he got a belly rub. The young guy told me that Murphy was one of his favorite dogs to do nails, all he needs is a belly rub and he is good to go. Too funny. On the way out there was a little dog with a pug face just straining at his leash to get to Murphy. Murphy sniffed him a bit and then looked at me like "What is wrong with this guy anyhow?" and walked away. While I paid the bill he stood calmly at my side. In the old days, getting on the scale was always an iffy thing. Today, I just said "Up there" and pointed. It was like magic. Sooo, then it was a stop at McD's for a plain cheeseburger and back home for a romp in the backyard. This is just the way it goes with him. Like I have often said, not much in the way of training, he just figures out what we like him to do and he does it. Happy to see that folks enjoy these moments out of his life! Almost forgot, he weighed in at 100lbs (45k). Vet says he is perfect shape, can just barely see a couple of his ribs when the sun reflects off his fur. He gets in a lot of play time and is not an eating machine.
