Protecting Her Human

They call German Shepherds Velcro dogs for a reason. Once they find their person, they stick to them like Velcro. Alli was about a year old when we rescued her and she quickly became my Velcro dog. If I so much as get up and walk from one room to the other, she’s right beside me, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve gone to the bathroom by myself. When I take my shower at night, she insists on lying on the rug right in front of the tub. I guess she thinks it’s her job to watch over me when I’m most vulnerable.

In the almost three months that we have had Alli, I have only heard her bark a couple of times, and it was just one bark and that was it. But yesterday afternoon I saw another side of her.

Our Ram pickup and Chrysler Pacifica were both filthy, and I decided to take a hose to them and at least try to get some of the crud off. I was washing the back of the pickup, with my back toward the road, and Alli was lying nearby in the shade of the carport next to the Kawasaki Mule. I did not hear one of the neighbors, who I had not met before, stop his car out front and walk down the driveway to talk to me, and with my back turned I didn’t see him.

But suddenly Alli was beside me barking viciously, with her ears laid back, doing a good imitation of Cujo. Once I turned and saw the person, who had stopped some distance away when Alli went off, I told her to be quiet and put my hand on her color to restrain her if necessary. She calmed down somewhat but stayed vigilant, putting herself between the two of us, her ears still laid back and her body tense.

Once he saw I had hold of her he approached slowly and introduced himself, and we shook hands. I told Alli he was all right and that seemed to be all she needed. She relaxed and stepped forward to smell his legs and he put down his hand and she nuzzled it.

I apologized for the way she had behaved, but he said, “No need to apologize. She’s just protecting her human. That’s her job.” We visited for a few minutes and then he left. I went back to washing the truck while Alli went back to the shade of the carport. When you hear that someone’s got your back, that’s what it’s all about.

Here she is later in the evening, taking a snooze after a hard day of protecting her person.

Of course, Alli isn’t the only lady in my life who takes care of me. Look at these delicious blueberry muffins and blueberry galette Miss Terry made.

A perfect dessert to go with the hammered chicken, baked potato, and fresh steamed broccoli (for her) dinner we had last night.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for campground reviews, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 90 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. Is this some form of subliminal advertising?

Thought For The Day – I am so broke, I can’t even afford to fill up my bicycle.