Dixie coming back to me

DIXIE BEFORE THE WEIGHT GAIN.

Dixie has a few advantages over Lady, our late mutt. The main one involves Lady getting away. If you dropped Lady's leash, she was gone. You'd spend the afternoon chasing her around the neighborhood.

You drop Dixie's leash and she'll either stay right with you, or she'll come charging back to you when you call to her (most of the time, anyway; lately, Dixie hasn't been so quick to come back to Holly or me).

Lady's big advantage was helping me take out the trash. Lady, a snow-dog type, would pull mightily if needed. It felt like a little tractor was pulling me. Dixie's getting better, though. When we took out the trash barrel today, Dixie stayed in a straight line, and she tried hard to help me pull (as hard as a fat, three-legged beagle can pull).

The negative for both dogs is boredom. A bored Dixie tore up a bunch of paper in the living room the other night.

Still, Dixie tries hard to please me, and Lady rarely did. But she was a sweet girl the last few years of her life.

UPDATE: Dixie got away from Holly yesterday; when Holly hollered, Dixie came running to her. It's the first time in many months that she's come back voluntarily.

NOTE: Lady passed on Sept. 17, 2016.

• 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