Molly, One Great Dog

In 1998, my parents bought a new house. Shortly after buying the house, my dad bought my mother an early Christmas present. That present, a dog. My father went by the pet-smart off vallydale and found this Bassett/golden retriever mix named Molly. So, the family needed to approve and we all loaded up on that Friday night and we went down to check this year old pup out. There was no doubt we fell in love and there was no doubt she did either. As my mom walked Molly around the store, Molly put her nose to the floor, sniffed around, and found my brother and myself. She had secured herself a home. She then squatted down and left her mark in pet-smart.

However, Molly was already house trained from her previous owner and had no problem finding the back door to our home once she joined our family. She was a short dog with a long body and floppy ears due to her Bassett traits but she had the heart of a golden. She loved to run around the backyard in circles and yes, even chased her tail from time to time.

Molly was the first dog we had ever owned that was primarily an inside dog. She loved to be pet. She'd walk over to you, find your forearm or hand and throw that cold nose to it until you would pet her. If she could, she would have sat there for days like that. The only bad habit she had was she loved to dig through the trash. She did it a quite bit more when she was younger, but that's something very easy to let slide. The one thing I could tell Molly hated most of all, was overnight stays at the vet. When the family would go on vacation, she'd end up there for a few days. But, we always tried to make it back in time to grab her so she would always be at home when we were. However, she did get to go to Destin with us one year and I'm pretty sure she loved it. Well maybe all except the travel part.

Molly was a loyal dog. A story that always sticks out to me was in 2000, my parents came home one night after a football game and guess who greeted them in the front yard, yep, Molly! Someone had opened the gate to our fence and Molly had wondered out, but just to explore our front yard. So after that, she earned the privilege of going into the front yard with no leash. Molly loved going just to the left of the house and rolling around on her back in the Bermuda grass. Then we'd have to bribe her in with treats. Her little game with us I think.

Molly had three favorite spots in the house. One, her bed. She loved laying on it and laying her head flat on the hardwood floor. Second would be the rug at the end of my parents bed. And lastly would be in the den right beside the couch. Now outside she had about the same number of spots. One was over on the left side of the deck in the sun, second was by the house next to the den window, and lastly the front corner of the backyard under a blueberry tree. Yes, she would sometimes have a bluish tint because of this. I always loved when I came home and she was outside in the backyard. She would be at the gate barking and I'd look around the corner of the house throw my head to the left and she'd take off. Where would she take off to? Well she'd be waiting for me at the backdoor for me to let her in, and I always would.

I'm pretty sure I could go for days telling stories about her. And Molly was a great dog, really the perfect dog in my opinion. She slowed down in her latter years but all she wanted to do was be loved and that was not hard to do. I'm glad my pops found her back in 1998. I truly love her and will miss her everyday.