Serving the High Plains

Stray dog burrowing way into our hearts

CMI Columnist

Relief from our boring lives arrived last week in the form of a six-pound ball of canine fuzz.

Miss Maggie showed up on the doorstep of my downtown office, next to a busy U.S. highway. When I spied her as I crossed the street she was doing the opposite of the “Little Doggie in the Window,” instead looking inside with inquiring brown eyes.

She heard me coming and did a little doggie dance to welcome me to her portion of sidewalk. Well, I couldn’t just leave her there beside that busy highway. She came in the office and immediately made herself at home by paying a visit to each and every person in the building.

No one knew the little terrier pup so we posted her bearded mug on Facebook to inquire if anyone was missing their bundle of joy. We received lots of oohs and ahhs but no one recognized her so I scooped up the little girl and took her home to the wife who had been pining for a cuddly dog to replace the one that went to doggie heaven in January.

The wife was thrilled with her but our older dog was a little confused by this thing that looked more like a rat than a dog. It didn’t help when the little rat-like creature claimed the loveseat he was fond of hanging out on with his daddy.

That afternoon we had a reply to the Facebook posting with a photo of a convincingly similar dog. We arranged for the lady to come by and I went to fetch the dog from my wife. When the lady arrived and we took the dog out a little boy with the lady exclaimed, “That’s not Molly!”

So the feisty little dog was returned to my wife’s loveseat later that day, which she’s used as her own personal princess throne for a week now.

The vet’s office says she’s not micro-chipped and they don’t recognize her so she seems to be settling into a new home.

Here’s what we’ve learned about Maggie in a week:

• She jumped into a laundry basket and went to bed on her own the first few days.

• She’s mastered the leap onto our bed and prefers to sleep there now.

• She’s extremely excitable when she sees her reflection in anything.

• She believes cuddling the person who catches her dragging laundry through the house absolves her of wrong-doing.

• It only takes her one bored evening to completely empty the lower shelf of an end table of catalogs and magazines.

• A toy monkey that is bigger than she is doesn’t stand a chance.

• She’s not yet house-broken and she’s sneaky.

She’s going to be a bit of a challenge but if her former owners don’t reclaim her soon she’s going to be burrowed pretty deep in our hearts if not the bed covers.

Karl Terry, a former publisher of the Quay County Sun, writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]