Don't let the charming smile fool you. She is corrupt with questionable intellect. Terriers are supposed to be smart, but this terrier is, at times, dumb as a box of rocks.
She is over a year old and still pees on the carpet...frequently. And not because she doesn't know better (I paid $200 to a Handyman to cut a hole into the side of my beautiful new house for her Doggy Door). She does it to retaliate against me whenever she feels neglected or unappreciated, or perhaps just because she feels the need to piss me off (no pun intended).
This is Molly after a haircut. She does not find this picture to be at all humiliating. She thinks she looks fabulous. In fact, she LOVES going to get her haircut because she gets to visit "Other Humans" who make a big fuss over her and tell her what a sweet, little cutie pie she is!
Little do they know...This is Molly demonstrating her "Death Grip." She has eviscerated a number of stuffed animals, some of them her own, some of them my daughter's Beanie Babies. She has also gnawed on the heads of some of my daughter's dollhouse dolls.
See how she pretended to love Augusta, my son's giant stuffed duck that he has had since he was 2? I returned home from my last out-of-town trip to find Augusta's innards strewn about the living room (but Molly hadn't peed on the carpet...yet...she waited until I had unpacked my suitcase and was starting the laundry, and that's when she strategically-placed a giant puddle in my bedroom, next to "my" side of the bed, where I was sure to step in it.)
This is my son doing homework. (Yes, I found this to be a strange position for completing homework--lying on the couch, using the end table for a desk--but at least he was doing his homework, so I won't complain). Molly is keeping him there until he is finished.
She "owns" him!
I am a sucker for Pound Puppies--dogs in need of "rescue" with questionable lineage. The "muttier" looking the better. I fall for dogs with eyes that don't match and multiple markings--dogs that leave you guessing what breeds could have possibly crossed to create such a dog--dogs with checkered pasts and unsurpassing loyalty and devotion to you, their rescuer. I am NOT one for purebred anythings that cost hundreds of dollars and have all kinds of grooming and special dietary needs.
Instead, we have Molly. Molly was my mother's dog. My mother previously owned Cocker Spaniels--the dogs we grew up with--but she had always wanted a Welsh Terrier, because she had a Great Aunt that had one (named Molly, of course) that she remembered fondly from her childhood. She bought books on terriers and did all of this research, and then she paid hundreds of dollars for a professional dog trainer (not to mention hundreds of dollars on toys, treats, crates, training tools, etc.) She even sewed Molly her own polar fleece blanket, along with dog bed covers, and blankets for the couch. Molly was only 8 months old when my Mom went into the hospital for her ill-fated (and deadly) surgery, so Molly came to live with us--a temporary situation that became permanent. After my Mom died, my Dad was going to give Molly away--he couldn't take care of her and still work, because he didn't have a fenced yard, and he lives "out on the Mesa" with hawks and coyotes that attack small dogs. But my kids, who visited their grandparents frequently during Molly's "puppyhood," were totally attached by now, so absolutely Molly was going to stay with us.
So, Molly is now firmly-entrenched as a member of our family. My parents were initially "crate training" her and providing her with structure and discipline and rules (something terriers need in order to modify and control their behavior). But, my household has 2 children in it--children who cannot bear to "punish" their dog by making her sit in her crate when she has been bad. Because there are children in my household, it also means that I have old, crappy furniture, and washable bedding, so Molly is pretty much allowed to jump on whatever she wants to, sleep wherever she wants to, and shed wherever she wants to. I have never been one to run a household filled with "rules and structure." Kids, dogs--no difference.
And despite the fact that I find myself muttering, "damn dog," under my breath a lot, I have to admit that having Molly around is a great cure for tension. She can sense my moods, and when I plop down on the couch after a hard day or a difficult telephone call, she doesn't just curl up next to me, she climbs right up and drapes herself across my lap, demanding petting and cuddling and sweetness. She is, in every sense of the word, an "Alpha" dog, but she sees me as the "Alpha Female" in our little pack, and despite her love for the kids, she really sees them as playmates and recognizes me as the "Alpha Human"--the Pack Leader. She misses me when I am away, and showers me with plenty of love and attention when I return. (It's good to have a dog in the house again!)
Or maybe she's just "playing" me, knowing what a sucker I am.
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