Fetch

We live in a neighborhood that seems secluded from the world but in reality is right on the edge of it. At the entrance is a busy road that leads to every fast food restaurant your money and lack of menu planning can buy. It is somewhat of an anomaly, to wake up early morning with a herd of deer grazing in your front yard while only a hundred yards away folks are doing the same at an all you can fit in your stomach buffet.

It would appear that our twelve year old chocolate lab, Sophie, enjoys the comforts of both worlds. We knew that she made rounds throughout the neighborhood each morning, greedily accepting treats from the kind hands of many of her friends, all the while helping herself to some items I have convinced myself she is only borrowing.

But, what we couldn’t have anticipated is her daily jaunt through a fast food line, where somehow Sophie receives a Bojangles biscuit from an employee sympathetic to a dog without a wallet. Sometimes she swallows the egg and cheese concoction in one bite, while at other times she trots back down the neighborhood street with biscuit between her jaws, mocking neighbors eating cold cereal for breakfast.

Neighbors continuously comment to us on the sighting of Sophie and her Bojangles biscuits. Depending on the manner in which the comment is presented, I either smile somewhat sheepishly, understanding that Bojangles is not necessarily on the food list as recommended by veterinarians, or I respond in a way illustrating puzzlement, claiming that the dog must surely be a stray.

My husband just shakes his head in disappointment. As a puppy, he worked diligently with Sophie in the backyard, hoping that one day she would frolic in the swamps, gathering Daffy and his unfortunate friends  ducks fallen from the sky by bullets that outnumber them ten to one.  It would seem that Sophie has an affinity for the beloved cartoon character and has never had the stomach for collecting the bird and all manner of scattered feathers.

Much to the chagrin of my husband, no amount of prodding can influence the dog into using innate canine skills to fetch ducks.

She saves those for the biscuits.