A Tribute to our Molly

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about the life of our wonderful dog Molly.

The week before Christmas of 1999; we had the chance to rescue a puppy from a not very good situation. After some discussion; a little brown bundle of energy came into our lives. She wasn't quite 6 weeks old and weighed about 5 and a half pounds. Barely old enough to be weaned. Molly was the first name that came to mind; and after an hour or so of tossing around names, she became our Molly.

She answered to many names over the years; Molly girl, the Mollster, Mutt, Pita, Houdini and Snorty Snorterson; just to name a few.

The first few weeks with a new puppy was a lot of fun. She was the runt of her litter; and was used to being pushed aside at feeding time. That wasn't the case at her new home; and it was quite comical watching her eat. She was so little that she would end up standing in her bowl to get to the pieces that she had pushed with her nose. Little sips of water in between. She was so dainty. Of course, that changed over time; and she would gulp her food down pretty quick. She always came over to both of us afterwards to thank us.

The first lake that Molly swam in was Lake Erie. That would be the first of many swims. She is the only dog I know that has been in 3 of the Great Lakes - Erie, Huron and Superior. She has swam in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico. Also along the way, she swam in the Bay of Fundy and the Colorado River. And she has had her paws in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Plus many lakes, rivers and streams in between.

Mike and I were avid campers; and the first time we took Molly camping, we weren't sure how it would go. We headed up to McGregor Point on the long weekend that first May; and she took to camping like a duck to water. This is where she received Houdini as one of her nicknames. The first night; we had just gotten all tucked in and turned off the lights. Within a few seconds it sounded like a huge animal or person was walking close to our tent. Got up, turned on the lights, and Molly wasn't in the tent?!? Unbeknownst to us, she had put a hole in the side of the tent; and had gone back outside. Because of her dark fur, she also blended into the night and many times sitting around a campfire, we had to really look to see her.

In all the years that we interior camped with our canoe; she only ever tipped us once. Mike had gotten out to look for a well camoflaged portage and Molly jumped out to follow. Over the canoe went, with all of our stuff and me! But thankfully we were on a small lake, at the shoreline.

The first time in the canoe, she was snoring along with her chin resting on the gunnels, when all of a sudden, she spotted a couple of deer on the shore. She never did bark at them, but did a low, gutteral growl instead. It was pretty funny, she was a tenth of the size of the deer.

I can't begin to add up the kilometres that Molly has put on over the years. Whether it was from all the drives for the many camping trips, plus the last 4 years of full time rving; or from all the hikes that she went on. For the first 7 years of her life; most weekends we took her to a conservation area. The walk took us about an hour; and she did it 10 times to our once. From the start of the walk, she was either running full tilt after her frisbee, which she loved; or chasing squirrels or rabbits. She was great at catching the frisbee, but never did catch a squirrel. But I gotta give her an A+ for trying.

Molly came nose to nose with a Massassauga Rattler and a tarantula, but luckily nothing bad happened. And in all the years that we had her, she never got sprayed by a skunk. Came real close to that happening this past spring, but lucky for us, the skunk went a different way.

The first time that we had Molly in the desert, we hadn't gotten more than a few feet away from the truck, when she came back with half a dozen cactus "bulbs" stuck in her fur. I had holes in my fingers for weeks after I pulled them out of her.

Molly was always an avid traveler, and as long as we were there, she didn't care where we were. Over the years, Molly has been in 8 Provinces and 29 States. When we first started this lifestyle; she would get really anxious when it was time to leave. But once she was in the truck; she was a happy girl. She knew that she was coming with us; and wouldn't be forgotten.

A few years ago, Molly had a bad injury to her back legs, and that seemed to be the beginning of the end. The past year or so has been hard on her; and despite giving her shark cartiledge and glucosamine, old age and arthritis caught up. She was having a lot of problems with walking and negotiating the stairs into our place had become a challenge.

On October 25th, Mike and I were both with her when she passed on to dog heaven. She will always have a special place in our hearts and we will both miss her greatly.

Please take a look at some of our favourite pictures of her