Doggie Spotlight for Murphy

Welcome to Dogs on Thursday!! Hope everyone is having a great week. We are feeling better this week and things seem to be going well.

I hope everyone is enjoying getting their packages together.

This week we have a Spotlight for Michelle from Insaknitty's Murphy. He is such a cute boy. If you haven't seen the new Knitty please go check out Michelle's design for the Paw Cozy. She had our poor dog lover's hands in mind when she designed it.

And here's Murphy.

Murphy was the 'all men suck' dog... Not that they all really DO suck... at the time though for me.. .that was exactly the case. I got him because I was sick of the dating scene, sick of feeling like I didn't rate, and sick of not being loved the way I felt I deserved... I made a joke one day to my housemate that the only man who would truly love me would be a dog! And she then suggested I should get one! So off I went to get Murph.. and wouldn't you know it.. one month later I met my husband! :-)

I say now that for me, it was about filling the void I had for love that allowed me to meet and fall in love with my hubby at that time... Murphy filled it so quickly and so completely that the rest of me was ready for the right guy to come along!

Murphy was adopted from the Bangor branch of the ASPCA Humane Society, in Bangor Maine on December 2, 1994, at 8 weeks old, and was one of two pups left from his litter. His sister cowered in the back of the kennel but Murphy ran right up to me licking and jumping on me…

he chose me… :-) I couldn't have asked for a better dog...

The folks there had very little information on him, but thought that he was a Springer Spaniel and Lab mix… but my gut screamed no.. he's got Border Collie in him… the way he looks now, you can't help but see the chunky adult lab in him.. but he still looks remark ably like a short haired Border… Murphy was smart at skills I've seen other dogs NEVER accomplish, like, deliberately walking around poles, sign posts, mailboxes etc, so that his leash wouldn't tangle… meanwhile Chewy would wrap herself around it so many times I'd want to just hit my head against the ground! Murph would never dream of pottying anywhere but a grassy or leaf strewn area.. while Chewy wo uld go right in the middle of the road if that's where she so desired… just silly things that I don't believe are 'trained' things… now… his intelligence stopped there… the poor thing gets himself into all sorts of ridiculous predicaments… and the word COME is not part of his vocabulary… he's been all MALE and selectively deaf since I can recall!

At the time when I got Murphy, I rented a room in a co-worker's home. Beth was one of the staff scientists at the Jackson Laboratory where I worked in research. She had a 13 year old dog, named Toby, and Toby became a surrogate Mom to my Murphy…

So often I found the two snuggled together on Toby's big bed!

They were adorable together. She taught him right from wrong and always kept him in line.. I have a very large stack of photos where Toby's so obviously telling Murphy who's the boss!

When he was really small, he could easily escape from Toby by running under the coffee table in the living room… but one day when he was bigger than he realized, he ran STRAIGHT into the side of the table hard… poor guy didn't even see it coming… he just assumed he'd still fit right underneath it… and if Beth and I weren't laughing so hard I might have worried for his poor little head for a moment ;-)

It still amazes me at how much bigger he got in the first two months I had him (don't know if you noticed the dates up there, but the upper photos, of him as a wee pup were taken in early December, and this last one with Murphy and Toby competing for the frisbee, is on Jan 27, 1995. Only 8 weeks after I'd gotten him!

Murphy is an athlete's dog… which means… he too is an athlete… Murphy did everything from Hike, camp, swim, kayak and run with me… His longest run was 18 miles, during my training for my first marathon. He was such a great running buddy, and just loved the trail runs, with stops for quick dips in lakes and drinks in puddles... I miss that as he's gotten older...

He adored our summer time blueberry picking hikes, and would lay in the shrubs and munch away at the berries.. he still loves blueberries today!

Blueberrying in Bar Harbor Maine, 1995

Camping/Hiking in Watkins Glen, NY, 1995

Kayaking on Kayuga Lake, NY (yes, he'd even climb into the kayaks after he got tired of swimming!)

I don't have any photos of our long runs together… but I do wish I did.. .they'd be so great!

I've 'tortured' Murphy through the years with Halloween Costumes

Crazy holiday photos

When Murphy was 6 we added human kids to the family, and he was a wonderful protector and playmate right from the beginning. He still enjoys his walks, and the occasional chase of a squirrel or chipmunk. We even find him in our pool each summer! He may be 13, but he still occasionally acts like he's 2...