Another Cookie

He was Clark's dog, but I stole him. He had enough love to share with us both and everybody else he met.

Mallory was a bounce-back -- he had been placed in a home in Maryland that had kids, hamsters and big iguanas. He tried to help the people out by eating the hamster and a kid got his fingers pinched trying to get it out of his mouth, so he was sent back to Thomasville, labeled as a biter.

We volunteered at the kennel and Clark got to know Mallory by brushing him and walking him. While we were down there that day, Clark pulled me aside and asked me what I thought about him, and would I consider bringing him home. At that time, we had Ri & Lily and I thought, why not, even though he IS awfully big and goofy acting.

Mal's godmother at the kennel was glad we took him, she told Clark "I don't know what you did to that dog, but ever since you were down here, I can't do a thing with him, he's unruly!"

The first night we had them, I was making carmel frosting for a cake for his Uncle Clark & he was right there with his big nose by the hot pot on the stove. After getting done with that, we ordered a pizza and sat down on the couch to eat it. He was right there again, trying to get in on a slice or two. Clark called his godmother to find out if he had eaten dinner, the boy was starving. She wanted to know what he was saying, and Clark said "he's telling me he's hungry." She told him to give him a cookie, which we had already done, so she said "give him another one." That could really be a theme song to Mallory's life, "Another Cookie".

The boy was always hungry and would herd you to the cookie jar. In recent years, he even taught his cousin Kelsey how to bump the jar to let it be known he wasn't the only one who wanted one. When we came home from work at lunch time, all the other dogs would go outside and he'd wait by the jar for his Secret Cookie. No one else knew why he didn't come right outside, but he had worked out a plan to get one cookie up on everybody else.

We knew when he wouldn't eat, there was seriously something wrong. Several years back, after a few days of not wanting to eat, we were insistent the vet see him right away, not wait. After some sonograms, he had surgery and had his enlarged spleen removed. He made a full recovery from that. We breathed a sigh of relief.

Joe came to live with us as a result of looking like Mallory. I didn't realize it til now, but Mallory helped Joe be a dog. He couldn't get him to use the dog door, but he showed him about barking at the fence and bumping people for treats.

Mallory really enjoyed meat and while he was always hungry, he wouldn't take a pretzel or WOW Tostito or green bean, carrot or tomato. He like Ritz crackers but not saltines. He would hone in on our plates if we grilled and always got hooked up, he had a way about him.

His actual birthday in January was unknown, so we observed it every January on MLK day, which is really MAL day. Checker's cheeseburgers were always popular with him and the rest.

Road trips with him & the pack were exciting. Mallory didn't care how much room he took up, he was going to be comfortable. He enjoyed the cabin, after we got enough rugs so he could hop from island to island and stay off the scary, shiny floor. He didn't like the beach, sand & water were scary to him, but he did ok once he was set up on a couch in the AC. He used to love it when we'd rent a mini van to go see his grandparents. He'd see us pull up in that and he knew he was going. He was the only one who got a seat, with a bed pillow, no less. Everyone else had dog beds on the floor, which was ok too. Just so long as they all got to go, they were happy.

He was a hard worker at his day job at Regency and really got the pit in order on the night shift. He kept the yard safe by barking at anything that moved during the night and didn't want to be told he had to come inside if he was busy patroling the yard.

Mallory had a thing for brindle dogs. He loved Lily and when she left, he was just as grief-stricken as we were. We brought home the Boston Runner, aka Chloe, thinking she would help us all to heal. She did, but she really aggrevated Mallory by barking at him and being generally annoying. Mallory loved Bonnie, she didn't bother him by barking in his face while he slept, and he chattered every time he sniffed her butt. He and Kelsey used to hang out in his pit together and he really like Trudy too, although I think she scared him a bit.

Mallory owned the couch. He would share it with me, even sometimes rolling over on his back to give me more space. He didn't appreciate it when Clark & I were both on the couch. He would circle & circle and give Clark the evil eye. Mallory told Bonnie it was okay to get up on the couch. He must have, because we never did, she just started doing it and did it one night while Mal was up there.

Mallory was a wild man in public in his younger years, only Clark could control him. I thought it would be neat to have his picture made with Santa at the mall, so he got to be the special dog and I took him. He saw the other dogs and started going nuts, spinning and pulling. I was worried he'd pull out of his collar, so we took off without getting his picture made.

He didn't like cats, not one bit. He once had the neighbor's cat by the belly and had on a cat face mask til Clark made him drop the kitty. It was fortunate for all the cat survived.

One of Mallory all-time favorite treats were WagWells. We bought them for years, then all of a sudden, they were nowhere to be found. I found them last year at BigLots and bought all they had. After this weekend, I have decided they had to quit selling them here on earth and get ready for Mal's arrival in heaven.