Blue

This is a blog about Miss Ingu's faithful companion, Blue. Blue is your typical black and tan mixed breed dog like the kind you might imagine running the hollers in the Appalachian Mountains. She weighs about 35 lbs and comes up to my knee. She arrived at my door about 3 yrs. ago, a gift from my daughter. I wasn't quite sure she'd be around long. I'd seen her before. She was chubby little puppy tired up in a neighbor's yard. She seemed terrified of strangers. I watched one day as she ran after the boy who lived in the house. He was on his way to school and somehow she had gotten lose from her chain and caught up with him. A few minutes later, I watched as she followed him back home. My daughter befriended this little pooch, bringing her bowls of water and a treat or two. Kaliedoscope, being very tender-hearted, couldn't bare to hear her whimpering at night. So one day she offered the neighbors $50 for the dog. Hapapapa put his foot down; they already had 2 dogs, a cat, and a baby. So Blue ended up in front of my house.
Now it just happened that Kaliedascope's family was heading out on a two week vacation the next morning. So here I was with a little dog whose history was questionable. It was obvious she'd been abused. She was afraid of the broom, skittish hearing paper rattle, and very difficult to convince she was allowed in the house. It took two of us to carry her up the porch steps and into the house. And because I was doing a lot of childcare at the time, I was nervous about how she'd act around the babies.
The first night went well I thought. She slept on the floor at the foot of my bed. During the day she hid under an end table next to the couch. The second night she slept with her chin on my bed. That next afternoon she disappeared while I was over feeding my daughter's pets. After searching the streets for hours, I finally found her under their deck curled up in a hole she'd dug. The third night she curled up on my bed near my feet. This was fine until midway through the night, she started scratching and licking herself.
All I could think was how much I did not want fleas in my bed. Then I heard a tiny cry. Between 2 AM and 6AM that morning Blue delivered 11 puppies. I became a puppy midwife. A very bonding experience.
The next 8 weeks had a special dimension as the puppies grew and were given away. Now she is my constant companion with few faults. She likes to bark when she's with Izzy and Frankie, but not so much on the farm. She does dislike the neighbor lady and barks like crazy when she's near. And she tries to trick me into going out for a walk by barking toward the drive and looking concerned enough that I go to check. Sometimes she's right; someone's coming. But a lot of the time, it's just her ploy to get me out and down the lane for a walk. If I could only teach her to close the door when she comes in.............