As the days, weeks, months, and years have gone by since my wife and I adopted Choctaw, we have often wondered what we did without her.  It’s amazing how something so tiny with four legs can make your life whole.  Choctaw has adjusted very well to her new home and her new man, Titan.  The amount of photographs and videos that we have of Titan and Choctaw are astronomical.  Titan has been such a gentlemen to Choctaw through the years. Now don’t get me wrong, he will tell her when he’s had enough but he does it in a gentle way instead of biting her in half.  The one thing I can certainly say about Choctaw is she DOESN’T back down.  She’s tough as nails and to be frankly honest, she rules the roost and Titan knows it.

Titan and Choctaw are just like having children and they are going to get into trouble just like children.  I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been mad at Choctaw.  The only time that comes to mind is when she dug so deep in the yard that she exposed the sprinkler pipe.  I honestly thought she had ruptured the pipe when I looked in the hole she had dug. I can tell you that on that morning I honestly thought I was going to loose my mind.

Choctaw and I had already gone for our morning run and I put her in the backyard with Titan. I could hear her running and gunning as Titan chased her around the yard which is an everyday occurrence. I went outside to get her and she was covered in dirt from the chest all the way down to her little tail.  And not the kind of dirt that you get from running and gunning, but the kind of dirt you get when you’ve dug to China and back. Choctaw had dug a huge hole in the backyard which happen to be right by a sprinkler head. When I looked in the hole, I could see the sprinkler pipe and I could see water.  I honestly thought the pipe and sprinkler head had been damaged.  Like I said earlier, “I LOST MY MIND.”  Choctaw knew she was in trouble the minute I looked at her.  I am sure the expression on my face told her everything that she needed to know, which I’m sure was along the lines of,  “MAMA IS MAD AS HELL SO I’M GOING TO RUN AND SHE WON’T CATCH ME.”  And that’s exactly what Choctaw did was run! I grabbed a towel and tried to convince Choctaw to come to me.  I knew if she came to me, I couldn’t scold her because she would never come to me again.  Finally, Choctaw SLOWLY walked toward me and rolled over on her back.  I tried wiping her off with the towel, but it wasn’t working.  The dirt had turned to mud.  When I could not wipe Choctaw off with the towel, I grabbed hold of her collar so she wouldn’t run from me and walked her down to Titan’s kennel to wash her off in his pool.  It was summer time so there was always a pool in Titan’s kennel to keep him cool.  Choctaw immediately jumped in the pool with her tail down because she knew that I was mad.  I pretty much told her that when I was washing her off.  I won’t repeat the colorful adjectives I used but you get the picture. Once all the mud was washed off of her, I again grabbed hold of Choctaw’s collar and walked her back up to the patio to dry her off.  Our next door neighbors must have heard and seen all the commotion going on because they came out onto their patio.  I was so mad that I didn’t even say good morning or make conversation which was not like us not to talk.  And, on top of Choctaw digging the huge hole, she had just had a bath the day before this happened.  It was like throwing money down the drain because I used a mobile dog washing service to come to the house to bath her.

Needless to say, as the day went on, I felt really bad I had gotten so mad at Choctaw. When I got home from work that afternoon, Choctaw immediately came to me and we made up.  Needless to say, we had a come to Jesus meeting about the digging.  It turned out that the sprinkler pipe and sprinkler head had not been damaged and that was a relief.  Choctaw still digs from time to time but nothing like what happened on this given day.

Next up, retiring and purchasing an RV.