THOUGHTFUL THURSDAYS

FLUFFY

If you look real close, you'll see Fluffy...bottom left corner.

I know that you think you had the greatest dog in the

world as a child, but you are wrong.

Fluffy was, without question, the greatest, smartest,

cutest and loyalist dog on the face of the earth! (Loyalist?)

The people who lived across the street brought him

over as a wee puppy. (A little Scottish lingo for ya).

A sweet, adorable, brown, ball of fluff. Hence the name,

Fluffy. (I don't know why everyone says I'm so dumb).

We never had to teach Fluffy any tricks. He just knew

them automatically.

He could roll over, play dead, do a back flip while

catching a ball in his mouth at the same time, drag himself

across the floor, like he was injured in a battlefield incident, and fetch.

Fetching was his favorite. He would not leave you alone

until you played fetch with him.

He would get his ball and press it into the palm of your

hand until you threw it for him. Furthermore, he never

tired of it.

He never quit until you did. (My dad thought he was the

reincarnation of Enos Slaughter)

Another interesting (but nasty) thing about Fluff was

that he was the horniest dog on the planet. No, he didn't

hump your leg. He didn't need to, ‘cause he had his way with

every female dog in a 20 mile radius!

(I lie a lot in this blog but the next story is totally

true). I actually saw Fluff climb a seven foot chain link

fence by sticking his paws in the holes and pulling himself

up. He was determined to get to three, prize winning,

beagles that were in their kennel in the yard directly

behind ours.

Needless to say, we would always see Fluffy look-a-like

puppies all over the neighborhood.

He was the doggy Don Juan.

Fences, gates and walls were no obstacle to him. (We will

talk about this later).

I had to walk about a mile to school. Fluff would follow

me all the way, go back home, and then be waiting for me

when school let out, at the school door!

How did he know when school let out?

Fluffyboy was a mutt, the best kind of dog. 

Believe it or not. He never barked. (Another true fact)

Oh, he did make a sound, but it was like a siren or

singing. Kind of like, arooo-roo-roo-roo, arooo-roo-roo-roo!

(No, it was not howling. Fluff was above that).

The dog catchers hated Fluff with a deep abiding

hatred that only Wiley Coyote could understand.

Just like Wiley Coyote could never catch the

Roadrunner, those dog catchers could never catch Fluff.

My dad didn't believe in getting a dog license, or name

tag, or shots for that matter, for poor Fluff. So the

Fluffster was fair game to the evil dog catchers, and Fluff

was always up for the challenge.

One day I came home and there were four dog catcher

trucks in front of our house. (Our town only had one dog

catcher truck, so they must have called for backup).

The dog catchers were in tears as they related how

Fluff led them on a 25 mile chase.

They could not believe how this small to medium dog could easily sail over 6 foot fences (like M.J.), travel through drainage pipes, jump across 15 foot wide ditches, and work his way through construction sites with moving bulldozers, semi trucks and all sorts of dangerous equipment to circumvent. (Circumvent-to manage to get around-especially by ingenuity or stratagem. Merriam Webster).

Fluff would often run in slow motion for the cool effect.

Small puffs of dust rising from where his paws touched the

ground so gently. His light brown curly hair rhythmically

flowing back and forth like palm trees in a soft tropical

breeze. His tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth in a

clownish sort of way (like Red Skelton might have done), and

shimmering beads of saliva exiting from his mouth like

translucent paratroopers jumping from a plane.

Fluff’s tail did not hang down like most dogs tails. His

tail curled up over his back in a dignified, almost regal way.

Fluffy knew how to get what he wanted. If I was eating

potato chips, he would come up an put that little hollow

under his chin on my kneecap and look up at me with those big

brown eyes, and I would give him whatever he wanted.

I believe America’s love affair with dogs is no accident.

All of the wonderful qualities so evident in dogs are equally

evident in proud Americans. The founding fathers, with

God’s help, outlined the qualities of a true American in this

land of the free. Dogs and Great Americans have the same

qualities. Don’t believe me? Compare if you dare.

Dog:                                                        Great American

Loyal to Master                                     Loyal to country

                                                                 

                                                                                                       Brave                                                        Brave

Kind to poor and broken hearted         Ditto

Loves freedom                                         Ditto

Humble but confident                             Ditto

Hates bad people                                     Ditto

Displays empathy and compassion         Ditto

Fights only when necessary                    Ditto

You can talk about love of country, but the love of

country by the Minute Man, who is limping down the road

playing Yankee Doodle on his fife, and has his head bandaged,

does not compare to the love your dog has for you.

Brave? I saw a video that showed a small dog get between

his adopted family and a grizzly bear. The grizzly lost.

Kind to poor and broken hearted? Are you kidding me?

If you ever had a dog, you know. You have already

experienced the phenomenon.

If you are sick, the dog knows it,and comforts you. (Dogs

have detected cancer in people). 

If you lose a loved one your dog knows.

Tell me your dog hasn't mourned with you after losing a

family member or friend. Tell me your dog didn't share the

pain with you.

Someone told me my grandma had died and I didn't

know what to do.

I was 10 years old and afraid. Something was terribly

wrong inside me, but I didn't know what it was. Something

was smothering me but I couldn't tell anyone.

I didn't know why God took her.

I was sitting on the bed in my sister's room alone. The

house was filled with relatives and friends who were all

thinking about grandma. I didn't expect them to be thinking

about me at this emotional time. But, all the same, my heart felt like a big hand was squeezing it. I really didn't know 
what was wrong.

At that, Fluff walked in and jumped on the bed. This

was very unusual. Fluffy never got on the furniture when

somebody could see him. He snuggled next to me very close.

I can still feel the warmth of his little fluffy body bringing

me comfort.

He had something in his mouth. I held my hand in front

of him and he dropped the object into my palm. It was one

of grandma's empty pill bottles. He must have retrieved it

out of the trash can.

In my opinion, he was telling me, it's okay, Grandma was

very sick and suffering (and she hated taking those pills), and

now she is happy and healthy in heaven.

That's when buckets of tears started to fall.

Everything that was smothering me and pressing in on my

heart came gushing out with my tears and I felt awesome

relief. I wiped my tears away on Fluff's soft neck. (He didn't seem to mind).

TEST

Tell us how your childhood pet was like Fluffy or maybe

better than Fluffy, in your opinion. (No limit on words).

I know you think I'm joking but you should really do it.

I guarantee, you will laugh and cry. (And that's not a bad thing).