Tiger Lilly joined our family about this time 13 years ago. When we brought her home her muzzle was the softest black velvet and the daffodils towered over her 4 pound self. Little did we know how bad she would grow to be.
We joke that if Lilly had opposeable thumbs that she would very probably rule the world... or at the very least we would all starve to death, because she would be able to open the 'fridge and cabinets and eat us out of house and home. Lilly is a trash stealer and a counter surfer. In her youth she thought nothing of leaping onto the kitchen table, and her episodes of badness are family legend.
Now that she is old and plagued by spinal arthritis, her naughty antics have lessened in frequency, but she still manages to pull off some escapades that leave me shaking my head and the other dogs wondering how she manages. Here are two examples:
Thursday was a rather busy, frantic, exhausting day at work and I had to rush home and get ready to go to an event with my husband. I opened the door to the house when I got home and was greeted, as usual, by happy dogs. I took a double take when I saw Lilly. Her grey muzzle was grayer... in fact, her whole HEAD was white. How had she aged so much in 8 hours? Then my gaze took in the room... a mysterious white powder covered the dog bed, the floor, and the guilty dogs face. I quickly put the events of the day together. A gust of wind had blown the porch door open.
In the summer the porch is a room we use in which to dine, read, relax, but in the winter it becomes a handy catch-all of things-I-don't-quite-know-what-to-do-with. After Christmas someone gave me a ginger bread house kit, and it was stashed on the porch, most likely destined for the trash when I got around to it.
Lilly had other plans. When that happy wind opened an opportunity for her, she took it! She brought the box with its fragrant contents in by the wood stove, where she tore it apart. Then she went right for the shrink wrapped house... a giant cookie! But since she does have the previously mentioned thumbs, she had to attempt to open it with her nimble mouth, and in the process the whole package slid just out of reach under the antique hutch. Foiled yet undeterred, she opened up the package of frosting mix, powdered sugar and who knows what else. And she shook it, licked it, gnawed it, turning the powder to a gluey substance that she she happily smeared all over the wooden floor, dog bed, hutch and her brindle self. This was the scene I came home to, and after my first gasp of horror I had to laugh. She was so pleased with herself!
Then this morning I walked out with all the dogs, pulling the house door shut behind me. When Lilly was done with her important doggy business she headed back up the deck and pawed the door open while I was feeding birds and the other dogs were still doing their thing. As I headed back up the deck I heard a crash and looked in the kitchen window to see that Lilly had just nimbly flipped the cookie sheet left on the stove with last nights biscuits (see previous post) off and was scarfing left overs as fast as she could. The other dogs came in just in time for crumb clean-up... Lilly had trumped them yet again.
Since boxer dogs are known for their rather short life spans, I feel lucky to have had Lilly for so many years... and oddly I treasure these episodes of evil that she trots out. They are evidence of intelligence, cunning and wit and I have to admit I'll miss her antics when she is gone. Life will be tider, but somehow more dull.
1 comment:
It can't have been thirteen years since you first mentioned the Bad Boxer! Seeing that grey muzzle makes me miss Violet and (not Lily...Rose? a flower name) who were creakier and creakier every time they came in for a bath. The two boxers we do now are a handsome boy who lacks a single major, and his "sister" who has just started showing in 12 to 18 months, and has a few points. The boy has a squeaky ball just large enough to barely fit in his mouth that he carries every where in the shop.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
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