Dixie and I made our first trash run

DIXIE AND I ARE DEVELOPING A RAPPORT.

FOR YEARS, LADY helped me take out the trash on Monday or Monday night. When she was young, she would pull mightily, and it would be easy to move a full barrel. Late in her life, she rarely pulled at all.

But one time stands out. A year or two ago, we had the trash, and I was struggling with the barrel. It was about to sit down flat. Lady looked back, then made a mighty surge forward. The barrel went back to its diagonal lean, and we got to the curb easily.

Tonight, Dixie and I made our first trash run. She wasn't much help pulling the barrel, but she did pull as hard as she could. The best thing is that she kept pretty much a straight line; the last few years of her life, Lady would wander often.

We didn't get to go to the dog park today, so I took her for a short walk after the trash run. It was kinda cold, so we couldn't walk as far as we might have otherwise.

She's never going to be anything like Lady; she's an ordinary dog, and Lady was extraordinary. Still, she's a sweetie, and she tries so hard. She wants to do as well as she can, and I admire that.

• Woof! (translation: Go away, kid; you bother me)

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

, • The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing