MEET MAC

Mac (McFarland) is my 10-year-old Giant Schnauzer/Lab mix named after my grandma.  I adopted him when he was 5 months old from a family that lived on a street in back of me.  There were some little 10 yr. old girls that used to come over and see the dogs and I’d give them a few bucks to help me clean or pull weeds (even though I usually had to re-do it).  We’d make tacos, sometimes we’d go to McDonalds and once I took them to see Santa at the mall. That’s a story in itself.

One day, one of the girls showed up with a puppy.  She was so excited since she knew I loved dogs so she wanted me to see him. Her mom (who didn’t live with them) had given it to her.  He was a cutie. But what puppy isn’t. 

About a month later, they got a doghouse and started leaving him outside. I could hear him crying all day so I went up and they had him on about 3 feet of chain.  They had a side-by-side cat dish for food and water.  This was the middle of summer. Hello…. Poppa!  Large dog – read the back of the bag – the girl is only 10.  No shade except the doghouse, which had no blanket, old towel or anything inside.

So I bought cedar chips, cables, ground stakes, a few large tubs and a huge dog dish.  I went up and talked to her dad first to see if it was okay, that was interesting, or not. I was out there hammering stakes in the ground, running water, etc., and no one even came out to see what I was doing.  But Mackie cared.

I ran a 50 ft. cable one way, and then clipped a 30 ft. cable onto it so he would have 80 ft. in two directions and 60 ft. on the sides.  Put the cedar chips in the doghouse and started throwing biscuits in there so he’d learn how to go in.  He was a smart happy pooch!!! 

I basically gave them instructions on how much food to give him and went up twice a day to fill his water tubs, give him doggie cookies and make sure he was eating enough. He was part lab and it was hot, he liked to swim in those tubs.

Of course, I fell in love with the boy and I started walking him just to get him off the cable.  Before long, I would bring him down to my yard during the day while they were gone so he could run around and come in my house.  You see where this is going????

So I offered her (the 10 yr. old) $50. Wrote a check so she couldn’t change her mind and told her she could come and visit as often as she wanted.  That lasted about 3 days.  Macaroo is MY baby!!!!