{"id":3743,"date":"2020-08-07T08:18:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T13:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=3743"},"modified":"2020-08-07T08:50:34","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T13:50:34","slug":"another-granddog-joins-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/another-granddog-joins-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Granddog Joins The Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The newest granddog arrived last weekend. Mollie, a 2-pound, 8-week-old Maltese spaniel, at the moment is chewing on my shoe, which is on my foot. I am dog-sitting for daughter Abbie and boyfriend Colton while they run errands. The pocket doors in my study are closed to keep our four curious critters away. They would never intentionally hurt this white ball of fluff, but I\u2019m not taking any chances. So, as I work, Mollie alternates between chewing on my shoe, which she\u2019s too tiny to actually damage, chasing her toys around the study, or emitting random high-pitched barks. I move about cautiously in my swivel chair so I don\u2019t step on her.<\/p>\n

Mollie is just now getting her sea legs. Most of the time she hops from spot to spot. Her joints are still developing, so she walks as if she has imbibed several adult libations. Our wooden floors present a slippery challenge. She frequently performs a face plant, shakes it off and romps away anew. Soon she will collapse and snooze, awake and repeat the cycle. Eat, do her business outside, play, sleep. It\u2019s a puppy\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

The world is indeed a scary, troubling place these days. Having a puppy around to hold, play with, and cuddle allows the world\u2019s ills to recede for a time. Mollie exudes joy, curiosity and an unalloyed affection for pretty much everybody and everything she encounters.<\/p>\n

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We have no grandchildren, just granddogs. Zelda, a purebred mutt, and Miri, a Husky mix, live in Houston with daughter Mere and son-in-law Matt. Ernie, a Yorkie, hangs out in Tyler with daughter Kasey and son-in-law Jeff. All of them are well-loved members of the family and welcomed visitors. Sadly, we haven\u2019t gotten to see those granddogs or their Food Suppliers since the pandemic hit. Mollie is the only pup with visitor\u2019s privileges for the time being. Thus, she has been showered with toys, treats, attention and affection during her visits to our house.<\/p>\n

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According to the American Kennel Club, Maltese generally weigh less than 7 pounds as adults, don\u2019t shed and respond well to rewards-based training. Hieroglyphics indicate ancient Egyptians believed the breed \u2014 which started in Malta, an island south of Sicily \u2014 had healing powers. The dog\u2019s popularity spread throughout Europe and beyond through trading ships \u2014 had healing powers. Stick a Maltese puppy in the bed and, voila!<\/em>, health was restored overnight. Queens of England loved Maltese dogs and treated them like royalty.<\/p>\n

Another site, run by the ASPCA, notes the Maltese spaniel has been \u201cthe aristocrat of the dog world\u201d for more than 28 centuries. Publius, the Roman governor of Malta in the 1st<\/sup> century AD, owned a famous Maltese named Issa. That furball was described as \u201cfrolicsome\u2026 purer than a dove\u2019s kiss, gentler than a maiden\u2026 more precious than Indian gems.\u201d Pliny the Elder wrote approvingly of the Maltese, using its Latin name, in his encyclopedic Natural History<\/em>, also in the first century AD.<\/p>\n

Women in the 1500s were fond of carrying Maltese dogs in their bosoms or their sleeves, according to the ASPCA. Mollie spends a lot of travel time in Abbie\u2019s purse. The famed botanist Linnaeus referred to Maltese as being \u201cabout the size of squirrels.\u201d We have squirrels in our yard that outweigh Mollie two-to-one.<\/p>\n

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Mollie quickly wore herself out and fell asleep next to my shoes after I relented and shed them. At least for a time, the world seems a little brighter this morning with this gentle creature sleeping beneath me. Like our own critters \u2014 two dogs, two cats, all rescue pets \u2014 she has won the pet-owner lottery. I look forward to years of dog-sitting the latest granddog \u2014 and to a time when we can visit Miri, Zelda and Ernie\u2014 and their Food Suppliers.<\/p>\n

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Print this entryThe newest granddog arrived last weekend. Mollie, a 2-pound, 8-week-old Maltese spaniel, at the moment is chewing on my shoe, which is on my foot. I am dog-sitting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[73,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-73","category-columns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3743"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3749,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3743\/revisions\/3749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}