Crazy Ophelia Boogerbutt

I suspect everyone always comes up with cutsie names for their dogs or loved ones, but Ophelia always had so many. To us she wasn't just Ophelia, she was crazy girl, booger butt, O's, Mammas, boogers, and mija. And she would always respond to every nickname.

While Ophelia was by and large a very good natured dog, she had a good stubborn streak in her. When one of us would leave the house, she would sit by the door and wait for that person to come back. Periodically pace, and then keep her post back at the door. She was also very protective and motherly to our small puppy, Abigal. In the mornings Ophelia would groom Abby's ears and throughly lick each one to make sure they were clean. On walks or at the dog park, Ophelia was always very protective of Abby and would nip or herd other dogs away if they got too rambunctious (In hindsight, over the last few months, is seems that Abby has been the one that been more protective of Ophelia as she was sick . . .I guess we missed those signs :( ). But Ophelia had always been a smart and good natured dog.

One time I worked at this company that was moving offices. As part to the move they were getting rid of some old furniture. Beth and I went to go pick up a table that we wanted to use on our patio, and we had Ophelia with us. It was a Sunday afternoon, and usually the office didn't have too many people in on the weekend, so we brought Ophelia in with us. She followed us along while we moved the table to the door and wrestled with all the chairs. Once we got everything in position, we took the table outside, but left Ophelia in the office, as we didn't want her running around loose in the parking lot. We loaded the table into the car and turned around to go back into the building. I reached for my key card . . .and it wasn't there; I had left it in the building! So now we were on the outside, and Ophelia is sitting by the door just looking at us inside the office! Panic. All I had were the car keys, even my phone was in the office. I immediately hopped it the car and drove to my manager's house. Beth stayed by the window and tried to keep Ophelia calm. You could tell she knew something was wrong, but to her credit she just stayed by the windows and waited patiently.

As I drove to Will's house, I had 2 things go through my mind, 1. Please be home! And 2. Gee I hope someone doesn't come into the office and unexpectedly find this 50 pound dog there! When I got to Will's house, he was luckily home and as I hastily explained to him what had happened, he laughed and lent me his key card. I sped back to the office and we were able to get Ophelia out of there (luckily she had gone to bathroom before we went inside!)

Another time, the wet season was coming, and I was worried about having to walk Ophelia when it was wet and muddy out (at that point I still had illusions that a light colored carpet and dogs would still coexist, those notions disappeared when Abby came along . . .). I got some goretex booties for Ophelia to wear in the rain or if we went hiking in the mud. If there is one thing Ophelia couldn't stand it was having her feet touched. Whenever the vet would examine her feet or if we would pet them or tickle them, she would pull them back quickly, or kick out with them (it's one this to sharing a bed with a dog, it's another to have her kick you in the middle of the night!), to say, "hey, back off." Anyways, while she didn't like us messing with her paws, she patiently allowed us to put her booties on and then practiced walking around the house. She hated them. She was all out of sorts trying to walk. And while she was uncomfortable, it's probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen was her walking around the house in her booties. Eventually she did get used to them, and wore them out in the rain for walks and hikes. Although I think she secretly hated them, because she later got a hold of one and ripped it up while it was drying (see, she's pretty smart). That's one of the funnier memories I have with Ophelia, and always love her for being so patient with us and allowing us to try different things for her.