You probably didn't know this

but I actually have THREE dogs.

You've already met these two trouble makers...the escape artist and the runaway:



But I've never mentioned the best of the three.

Meet Patches:



It's very clear that Hamish is Troy's dog (he was a Christmas gift for Troy a few years ago). It's also clear that Tilly, although loved by all of us, is Lindsay's dog. She is the one, after all, who rescued her from the back yard at her grandmother's.

But Patches? She is....unequivocally....without question....no doubts....mine.

I'm not saying that she is the best of the three BECAUSE she is mine. She is the best of the three because, well, she just is. Patches is the epitome of man's....errr, woman's....best friend. She is loyal to the core. I cannot walk anywhere on my property that Patches is not two steps behind me. Sometimes only a half-step and we trip over each other. But that's okay.



Patches isn't one of those annoying dogs that jumps all over you when you come to visit (*cough-cough-Hamish-cough-cough*). She is also not an annoying licker (*cough-cough-Tilly-cough-cough*). All those annoying qualities dogs sometimes have? Patches has none of them.

And I'm totally serious.

She doesn't bark unneccessarily. She doesn't get on the furniture (well, except the very corner of my bed at night). She sits good for her baths. She gets along well with the cats. Okay, she ignores the cats. She gets along great with the other dogs. I think she secretly tries to mother them and I'm pretty sure she feels my frustration with my teens as the other 2 dogs go willy-nilly about their lives, escaping and running away. I'm sure Patches wants to tell them how stupid they are and ask them if they know how good they have it here in Pryorville. She LOVES to ride in the car. It doesn't matter that I'm just going to the gas station to fill the tank. Patches is all over that! She greets me at the door when I come home. She lays her head in my lap when I'm upset.

I love her.

And she loves me.

So there.

And all three dogs? They were all rescued in some form or another. We are like that at our house...rescuers. I even rescue teenagers. But that's another post.

You know Tilly's story. Hamish? He came from a testing lab. I will say this lab took IMMPECIBLE care of their beagles. He was healthy and wonderful when we got him. I won't go in to the details of the lab. Just trust me when I say it's not all ugly and horrible, warranting picketing from PETA. It's not.

And Patches? Her story is the most entertaining, actually. We used to have this dog named Maggie that we rescued from the pound. Maggie was an escape artist, too. But she was also a runner. A very. fast. runner. But she was kind of stupid because whenever she would escape she would RUN back to the pound. It's what she knew. What she was familiar with. But it was tiring getting the calls from them. They laughed. I didn't.

So one day when I'm at the pound to once again retreive Maggie, I see a co-worker there. We'll call him Felix. Because that's his name. Anyway, Felix was there with Patches. I ask about her and he tells me she is a Catahoula. Seems as though Patches wasn't behaving very well at their house and was not getting along with their Rottweiller. I think the Rottweiller taught her all the bad habits, but that's just my personal opinion. So I look at this dog....all shy and meek...and instantly fall in love with her. I decided to rescue her, too. Felix followed me home, Patches sniffed Maggie's butt and they went to the backyard together. The rest is history.

It's a modern day love story. Well, if you love dogs. And I do.

But I won't be sniffing any dog butts real soon.