Molly Mas Macho

Celebrating the 7^th Anniversary of a magnificent soul.

In September, 1991, I drove up from Florida to Youngstown, Ohio to adopt a Portuguese Water Dog. I didn’t know what puppy from the litter I was going to choose but as I was playing with four of the puppies, a fifth puppy just stayed in the corner. I asked about her and the breeder suggested I choose one of the other four as that puppy wasn’t very social with people or the other puppies. So, of course, I chose her. She was 10 weeks old. Her full name was Molly Mas Macho.

There were some rough times those first 18 months, especially when her aggression was so bad she’d break through the screen and she’d try and bite little old ladies who were walking home from the bus stop. And she’d act like Cujo if someone came close to the car. But I told her that no matter what, I’d stick by her and we’d work through it together. And we did.

We pretended to hunt at the local preserve. Basically she chased squirrels and ducks. She never caught one but she was very proud she was able to keep them off the ground.

We did agility.

We went to waterdog camp where she learned to jump out of canoes, swim underwater and retrieve stuff. She was a tremendous swimmer.

We traveled around the country doing seminars and she loved the Red Roof Inns and Motel 6’s.

But her all-time favorite thing was visiting grade schools. My Paws for Peace program taught children to be kind to one another by being kind to dogs. Molly was a star.

Molly went night blind at the age of 7. While we were making a presentation in a grade school, she was asked to do her favorite trick of answering the phone and throwing it in the waste basket when I said, “bill collector.” But I knew something was wrong when one day she missed her target. But she persevered and after three tries, how proud she was, finally taking care of business.

The attached clip is her actually being videotaped making her three attempts. And that was the last time she ever was able to do it. Molly was going blind and she simply couldn’t see the basket anymore.

She was totally blind at the age of 8.

She didn’t care.

Molly and I spent more than 16 years together. She helped teach all of my other dogs what it meant to be a dog…and what it meant for me to be a better human…have fun, live in the moment and love everybody. She was simply awesome.

She didn’t walk through heaven’s gate when she passed away on May 15, 2008, she jumped over it. Always the free spirit!

I was blessed beyond words when she chose me.

Here’s to celebrating Molly and free spirits everywhere.