Soon as we knocked, this week’s innerview-ee was at the window woofin’ excitedly. When a lady opened the door he bounced up to greet us, enthusiastically wiggle-wagglin’ over for the Wag-an-Sniff.
“HI! Mr. Bonzo. I’m Murphy ‘Goober’ Frye. Call me Murphy. Happy to meet you! This is my Gramma Cindy an my Mom Olivia. Grampa Doug’s elsewhere. Come IN. You can sit on my couch. Would you like a WATER?”
“No thanks. I’m well hydrated. Delighted to meet you all.”
Murphy was a hansome poocheroo: a golden doodle with soft curls, fluffy ears an tail, an amazing gold/green eyes with the most earnest, sincere (sorta human) gaze.
My assistant produced a duh-lishus snack from The Satchel an presented it to Murphy, who graciously accepted, munched an explained, “I’m not allowed to BARK BEG cuz it’s not puh-LITE, Mom says. But that’s OK, cuz all I haff to do is sit quietly an give Mom or Dad The Look.”
He smiled a you-know-what-I mean smile. I smiled back. It’s a dog thing.
“I’m eager to hear how you an your Furever Family found each other and what your life’s like.”
Murphy plopped onto the floor beside his Mom.
“My Mom was feeling lonely cuz her sister (aka BFF) got married and moved away. So Gramma Cindy decided to s’prise her with a pupper. She picked Doodles cuz the famly already liked Doodles AN because some kinds of pooches make Mom sneeze an stuff but Doodles Don’t. I dunno why.
“Anyway, Gramma Cindy saw a pickshur of me an my sister when we were bran new adorable puppies. She couldn’t decide which one of us to give Mom so she put both our pickshurs inna fancy box an gave it to Mom so SHE could decide, and they went to the breeder to see us in the Fur. Mom couldn’t decide either but even though I was just a tiny pupper, I KNEW.”
I nodded. We know. Dogs just know.
“So,” Murphy continued, “I decided to take matters into my own paws. I put my head on Mom’s leg an gazed up into her face with my irresistible puppy eyes. An that was that.
“I was cool with my Forever Home right away. There was lotsa outdoors to run in; an Miley, a Golden Retreever/Lab. She was Gettin’ Up There, but she was The Best Big Sister. She helped raise me an taught me Important Dog Stuff. She’s in Dog Heaven now. I miss her.
“At first, I chewed a few sox an hats Gramma-an-Grampa tried to put on me, an once I got my head stuck inna box and they took an embarrassin’ video of me lookin’ like a doof.
“Also, before I learned about BOUND-rees, I almost bought the doghouse. See, I usta chase cars.”
“Uh-oh!” I exclaimed.
“Some frens were goin’ home from visitin’ us an I took off chasin’ ’em down the driveway so fast I ackshully ran UNDER their car an BLAM! It was AW-ful. Everybuddy, even ME, thought I was toast. I hadda go to the HOSS-pittle. But finally I got OK. Needles to say, I no longer chase cars. Plus, right after that, I hadda undergo the No Puppies Pruh-seed-jur. It was a Very Soggy Dog Biscuits year.”
“Woof, Murphy!” was all I could manage.
“I’m totally fine now! I LOVE car rides, the wind in my ears an all that! Mom, Gramma an Grampa taught me a lot, an we have the Best Ad-VEN-churs. Gramma Cindy says it’s important for us to Experience Life, an it’s TROO. When I’m havin’ Ad-VEN-churs with my fam-lee, I don’t get bored an into what humans call MISS-chiff.
“Me an Mom are Paddle Board Buddies on the river. It’s SO pretty! I sit in front and jump off to swim. I love swimmin’ in the pool, too. Also playin’ chase. An every morning me an Grampa Doug have a RICH-u-ell: I scratch at the door to wake him up, then we go outside an explore an check out the squirrels an the fish in the pond. I usta chase our nextdoor horse neigh-bers but not any more, cuz they chased me back.
“Wanna see some TRICKS?”
“Abso-woofin’-lutely!”
At his Mom’s commands, Murphy executed Spin! Sit! Pretty Sit! Go Around! Weave! And one where he ran around his Mom an gracefully leapt over her outstretched arms without boppin’ ’em. I was Way Impressed.
“I bet you have some animal pals, right?”
“Sure! My Bestie’s Oliver, a Dalmatian. His human is Mom’s BFF Alexa. We grew up together. Here, look! That’s us when we were just a couple months old.”
Murphy showed me a pickshur of two liddle puppers, side by side, WA-AY off the cuteness chart. “Oh, for Lassie’s Sake,” I exclaimed. “You look like stuffies!”
“I know,” Murphy agreed. “We WERE barfingly adorable!”
“I have another pooch pal, Cash, he’s way cool; an,” (Murphy lowered his voice) “I have a new grrrl fren, RiRi. She’s a German Shepherd. An for a liddle while I had a sorta accidental duck fren. Mom use to raise ducks an he was the only survivor of an unfortunate duck event, so me and him (I called him Hudson) hung out an I watched over him till we found him a new flock.”
“Whaddya like to eat?”
“I’m not really into froot or veg-tubbles. I’m more of a steak-an-sammon pooch. Oh, an I have another RICH-u-ell: My water bowl here is always full, but sometimes it isn’t Really, Really Cold. So, THEN, I go visit Great-Gramma Nancy, who lives right next to us on our same property. I trot right over, an puh-litely bop on the door an she gets me a lovely big bowl of nice, cool, fresh water. Great-Gramma Nancy is Totally Cool Kibbles!!”
Headin’ home, I was thinkin’ what a fun, adventure-filled life Murphy is having an, even though I forgot to ask, I could pretty much see how he got the nickname “Goober.” If ever there was a poocheroo who knows how to have fun and not take himself too seriously, it’d be him. I was still smilin’ when I got home.
Till next time,