While cutting firewood in 2010, I found Molly living in a den that she had built. She was hunting everything she ate, and she was doing a good job at it. She wasn’t sure what to think of me so we kept our distance at first. Over the next month or so, I went back every day and put food out for her. Slowly, she started coming closer to me when she saw me pull up. It took around 2 months before she would let me pet her, but she was hooked after that. She still wouldn’t get in my truck, and I didn’t want to push it. During one of those first visits with her, I found her stuck together with another dog that lived in the area, and I was pretty sure that she was going to be having puppies in the near future so I was really trying to get her to come home with me. She wasn’t quite ready to load up, but I was feeling confident that she would be soon. One night during that timeframe, I got a call from a guy that lives in the area. He knew that I was trying to “domesticate” her, and he told me that he shot and killed her because Molly had killed a small dog of his. I didn’t blame the guy, and he understood why Molly had killed his dog. For no fault of Molly, she had been dumped in the country, and she had learned to hunt and kill to survive. It was dark outside when I got the call so the next morning I went back to find her and bury her. When I got out of my truck, Molly came running up to me. I was in disbelief because I expected to find her dead. She had a huge V shaped gouge on the top of her head, and she looked like something out of a horror movie. She was running around like it didn’t bother her. I decided that day that she was coming to her new home. It was a bit of a struggle to get her loaded up, but she never minded going for a ride after that. I got her head all doctored up, and in time it healed up with barely a scar. Now, she was a country dog through and through, and she had many more adventures even after she adopted me. Before I get to some of her other adventures, I’m going to brag on how good of a mother she was. She had 10 puppies not long after coming home with me. At this time, I only had a black lab and Molly. They became best buddies, but she didn’t let my lab, Blackie, get within 6 feet of those puppies when they were first born. She eventually let him help babysit as they got older. Having all those puppies around was an experience that I’ll never forget. We had a lot of fun watching them grow and play. All of her puppies were adopted, and Molly got to visit a few of them over the years. Now back to her adventures, she and my lab were two country dogs that lived life to the fullest. My home is close to a small mountain, and they would take off and run that mountain from one side to the other. Numerous times, they were sprayed by skunks and then come home and want to come inside. Molly was a smart girl, but she never learned to leave the porcupines alone. I spent numerous evenings pulling quills from inside and around her mouth. She got picked up by the animal control in the small nearby community several times. They would call me, and I would go bail her out of jail. She also got bit by a rattlesnake. I thought for sure that was going to kill her, but it seemed to give her more energy after she healed up. She eventually became a yard dog as she got older, but she would still head out on shorter adventures from time to time. There were times that I wanted to pull my hair out over her, but I wouldn’t trade any of the time that I had with her. I knew her time was coming to a close so my daughter and I took her for a short walk in the woods Thursday evening where I originally found her. She passed Friday morning, and she is now running all those fields and dirt roads on the outskirts of heaven. You were a great girl Molly!
