The Things Marley gets into...

How many of you are familiar with the Book written by John Grogan titled "Marley & Me"?

My husband & I often comment we are living this book with our dog Marley. One difference is our dog is a female, however, this does not matter to her. It seems like, when you're back is turned, she knows it and will do some awful things. Being home with her all day myself, get to fish things out of her throat, such as; gravel, twistie ties from bread bags, fabric scraps, tin foil, kids little toys, and that's if I catch her in the act. One of these days, she'll most likely require surgery of some sort to fish all this stuff out of her stomach.

She just loves tagging along to the barn at chore time, it would seem she loves eating (well this is being as modest as I can) droppings. Marley does not discriminate, she loves it all, rather it comes from the kitties, chickens, or horses it's one of her favorite things. I ask hubby, "please don't take Marley out there, she just wants to eat maure, but he loves having her there for company. I'm not sure I'd enjoy her company, knowing she is scarfing down such dirty things, Yuk!

Marley, loves to lay on the ottoman, she listens for her daddy to arrive home each evening. With every passing car Marley pops up into a sitting position, so she can peer out the window to see if that's him. She adores him so...

All day, while everyone is away at school and work, Marley is at my heels, especially, when I'm in the refridgerator. I wish I could have my space back in the kitchen, I cannot recall, how many times I've nearly tripped over her. If I'm standing at the sink doing dishes, she's laying right behind me, If I'm at the stove, she's right there, laundry's just the same, I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see what she does when we are away from the house....

Another Day with Marley

Marley loves the snow, she will lay on the ground, in the snow, for long stretches. She loves sticking her nose in it, as if she's smelling a little mouse, somewhere, down under there.



















Must take nap, playing in all this white stuff makes one tired. I'm so blessed to have found a nice warm house to call home. It has heated floors, therefore, keeping me warm from head to paws.

I adore this little girl! You see, I had wandered the countryside for months, scared out of my mind, just a persons voice would send me sailing off, with my tail between my legs. It was this caring soul, that got the bright idea to capture my heart, by acting like me. She got down on her elbows, waged her tail, whimpered and whined, until I came close enough to give her a lickin' on the face. After a bit, I got to thinking this is kinda nice, I gave in, as I enjoyed the company.

Sure am happy that I decided to pick these people to love me, and spoil me.

The place Marley calls home

Here you see Marley in the kitchen, she is asking Mom to play ball with her, however, mom is busy making Christmas cookies. Look at this face, how could anyone resist, I couldn't and ended up tossing the ball a few times so she could chase it and bring it back. Marley also likes to get Buster in the game, after awhile, having the ball in her mouth, she will run around the coffee table with Buster hot on her heels (with no intentions of letting him have the ball, of course) changing directions, jumping on the furniture, it is fun to watch them play together (not bad for Buster being 12 years old) it seems to bring out Busters playful side. Marley, also loves one of our three bunnies (Spunky) she will lay on the floor until Spunky comes over to touch noses, then they do alittle hide and seek (well Spunky hides) Marley is always the seeker in this game. Spunky is in the background trying to sneak up on Marley from behind, as you can see Spunky has the run of the mill in our woodshop/storage area. (very spoiled animals)

Spunky saying to Marley; "catch me if you can" then she hops to a place no dog could ever squeeze into. Marley is so patient she just lays on the floor with her nose stuck into little cracks waiting for Spunky to reveal herself , frequelntly Spunky changes her hiding spot and is somewhere else close to Marley (who doesn't have a clue) until the bunny hops up and tags her. Yes, Spunky will touch you with both front feet to capture your attention.

Our dog Marley, loves to tag along during barn chores, she frequents the chicken coop, as well as the horse stables. She loves all the attention the other critters give her, and is very happy living on the farm.

Marley chose us (short story)

This is our Marley, she showed up in our area this past summer, we believe; someone dropped her off. Some of you already know what it took to gain her trust, for you that don't, it took many months of daily feedings, each day we would speak softly only to have Marley fly off. It seemed she was very afraid of the human kind.

Then one day, I came in from photographing Marley and mentioned to my granddaughter that I had been out again taking pictures of (the dog) as she was refered to back then. Our granddaughter had asked if she could get some shots on her own and headed out the front door. Busy in the house, I wandered over to the window, here is our granddaughter on the front porch her head tucked downward and she's wagging her backside like a dog and standing directly in front of her is the dog, Marley, tounge hanging out and wagging her own tail. Wow, our granddaughter is playing with the dog who we've been trying for months to gain her trust. The very next day, our granddaughter goes off to school, upon returning home surprisingly enough "the dog" meets her in the driveway.

We have captured Marley's heart, she is "learning" to trust us more and more each day. The weather outside is turning chilly as fall approaches, so we lay a heavy blanket on the front porch for the new dog to sleep nights.

We are unsure at this time, whether to let her inside, didn't know what would bring someone to drop such a beautiful creature off inthe middle of the boonies. Must have done sumptin real bad to deserve that! After about a week on the porch I tried letting her in for an hour here and there, until one day she remained inside all day. She has now worked her way into not only our hearts but our home as well. Letting Marley out nights to sleep, it is getting really cold out there dropping into the lower 30's F at night. Then a storm blew in and Marley was outside, when I got up in the middle of the night to let her in she was nowhere to be found. The wind is howling, the rain is coming down in sheets, where could she have gone to wait it out, this we never knew. From this point foreward Marley slept inside in our laundryroom, she started with just a babygate across the door to keep her in, that didn't hold Marley long before she learned to jump over it. She then required two gates stacked on top of each other to hold her in, whining each night in hopes we would just let her have her freedom.

Here you see Marley playing with our 11 year old Lab mix (who until now) would not even think of letting another animal into his yard. Marley has captured his heart also, in a big way, Buster, loves Marley and the two will play for hours.

To Be Continued