If Mischa could talk....

If Mischa could talk she would tell me I love you everyday. Instead of using those desperate eyes, trying to communicate what she wants, she would start every sentence with "Mom, can we...?" I know every evening she would tell me after our walk that she wants to go for a ride in the car. She would tell me that she wants to go for a hamburger at the local drive-thru. Then she would tell me that she wants to go to the park to visit her friends from play group. She would tell me she likes to play with the funny looking donut toy and teasing her friends.

Every morning Mischa tries to communicate me, if she could talk, it would be easier for her. She does a good job trying to tell me things with her suggestive behavior. In the morning before I leave for work and right after our morning walk she sits in the hallway with those sad eyes, just looking at me. When I grab my keys she picks up her head in hopes I say let's go to work. If she could suggest that everyday was a good day to go to work. She would also convince me that she would be on her best behavior.

Before bed, she would request something to chew on like a meat bone. Sometimes I think that she would tell me to be quiet because she has to rest up for the next day. She might even complain she is a light sleeper and suffers from sleep apnea. Mischa snores so loud the neighbors can hear it. She would also request a quick tummy rub before retiring to her bed for the evening. You have to love dogs!

Find Maddy!

Home on a Monday and I had just let Mischa out on the porch to eat her bone, when I heard my neighbor yelling out for her dog, Maddy. I had hoped she would find Maddy on their back porch, sitting there waiting to be let back in the house. The calls within seconds were becoming louder and more frantic, when I heard my neighbor say to Mischa on the porch “help me Mischa, find Maddy”. I knew that moment it was different from the others and called Mischa inside and told her to “find Maddy!” We went outside and immediately began to walk the neighborhood calling out for the lost little beagle. Mischa was walking and sniffing the ground and ignoring the other dogs around. When I went to turn up the hill Mischa pulled back on the leash. I thought she was being stubborn, but little did I know she had a plan to find her friend. Mischa began to walk in the opposite direction towards the property fence. There was an old door in the fence that was cracked open. Mischa led me through the fence into my neighbor’s yard.

She kept walking and sniffing the ground for about a mile while I called for the missing dog. Then out of nowhere I heard that distinctive beagle yell. It was Maddy! Mischa walked all the way to the end of the street. Just then a man came walking out and asked if I was looking for a dog. He said he heard the dog barking in the back and allowed me access to his property. Mischa and I walked all the way to back of his property and called for little Maddy. We did not hear anything, but Mischa kept pulling into a patch of dense woods where I could not go. I was afraid to let her off the leash in fear that she would lose herself. I pulled her back and said let’s go.

I thought Maddy had moved once she heard us calling her, so I returned to the main road. Once we were up there we heard her again, by this time I had called her owner to meet me and she had arrived in the car. We went down to where we heard Maddy, back to that man’s property and she was found only about 15 feet from where Mischa had been trying to pull into the woods the first time. Maddy’s leash was stuck on an old stone wall and she was immobile. Maddy was about a mile away from the house when she was found. Mischa had never been trained to search and rescue, but that day she understood what she needed to do. Once we were back in our yard Mischa began to run around with a big smile on her face as to tell the world “I found Maddy and she’s safe!” I am so proud to be a pit bull parent….