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The "Molly Award" |
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The Molly Award recognizes and celebrates the tremendous natural ability of the Border Terrier to ensure that his or her owner(s) remain humble. Eligible nominees are Border Terriers who have done something to cause their owners to blush, be rendered speechless, and/or become the subject of running jokes among their peers. Ideally, the award-worthy event will have been witnessed by at least three other humans. Extra points may be awarded to nominees whose actions caused the witnesses and the Molly Award judges' panel to laugh out loud. The winner of the Molly Award will receive a perfectly prepared steak and a momento. Molly - Setting the Standard for award-worthy behaviour Molly's temperament ideally exemplifies that of a Border Terrier. By nature, she is good-tempered, affectionate, obedient, and easily trained. In pursuit of her dinner, she is hard as nails, "game as they come", and driving in attack. Molly demonstrates her Bordery temperament every day, in many ways, and gathers many fans in the process. One of her favourite activities is visiting the veterans' home, where she entertains residents with her tricks, cuddles quietly with folks in their beds and wheelchairs, and inspects the darkest corners of everyone's rooms in search of any crumbs she might find. She doesn't often find crumbs in the bedrooms, but she did find some once or twice, and she remains forever hopeful. Molly's most notorious (so far) tale of hunting for her dinner happened in 2005, when she and I were houseguests at the home of her breeder/co-owner and husband. It occurred on a Saturday evening, after a busy day of Conformation, Earthdog, and socializing at the dog show. As often happens, impromptu dinner plans were made to allow for even more socializing and dog talk. About ten people gathered back at the house, and Molly was playing nicely with her sister as their mother and half-brother did their best to stay out of the girls' whirlwind. I was chatting in the kitchen when I heard a great roar coming from our host, who had been delivering goodies to the dining room table. A few of us dashed to the dining room to see what was the matter, just in time to see a wee Border Terrier disappear below the edge of the table. A dog had stolen a steak! I was beginning to laugh at the cheeky stunt when I realized the rascal was MY dog!!! My amusement morphed quickly into mortification. I dashed over retrieve and remove my naughty dog, who was standing now on the light-coloured, upholstered seat of a dining room chair, trying to swallow a steak. Her cheeks were slightly full. Her short, dark muzzle was certainly "well filled". Her small, V-shaped, moderately thick, beautiful black ears, set so nicely on her ottery head, did not register my request to "drop it!" In front of an audience, and much to Molly's chagrin, I managed to pry open her jaws and pluck the meat from her strong teeth, with a scissors bite, large in proportion to size of dog. It was then I noticed the second steak, resting peacefully on the upholstered chair seat. When Molly was caught in the act, she had been going back for steak number two! I like to think that she planned to share with her sister. I am also pretty sure that she would have gone back for additional steaks for her mother and brother, if she'd had more time. Steak number one was cut up and shared among the dogs. Steak number two was washed off and enjoyed by me. The upholstered seat cleaned up nicely. And the hosts graciously accepted my explanation that chairs at my house are always pushed under the table, because a larger breed of dog then in residence had a habit of jumping onto the chairs to see what was on the table, so Molly had never experienced (or been trained to stay off of) unattended, accessible dining chairs. We had a lovely dinner, and Molly's co-owner kindly suggested that it must have been *her* half of the dog, the half with the mouth in it, that had commited the offense, and I really was not to blame. Random fits of laughter punctuated the evening, as various guests recalled bits of The Event. As the saying goes, he who laughs last laughs best. And Molly had the last laugh, the next morning. Five people were in the kitchen, with four of them eating breakfast at the table. The dogs were inside, out of sight and out of mind. Our host rose from his chair to reach for fruit for his cereal. A grizzle and tan streak skidded to a halt on the recently vacated seat of his chair, and before any of the humans bearing witness could react, Miss Molly had planted her furry little face in the cereal bowl, and was helping herself to breakfast! I can still picture her milky whiskers as she looked up at me, as if to suggest: "you snooze, you lose." Our host helped himself to another bowl of cereal, since he was already up. Molly went outside to play. We humans managed to finish our breakfast without further loss of food and pride. And then we headed out for the dog show! by Mel McCarthy
Has YOUR Border Terrier demonstrated her ability to help prevent humans from taking themselves too seriously? Has he publicly demonstrated his creativity in getting what he wants, despite your dedicated training and planning? If, so, please tell us about it in 500 words or less. Photos are optional.
The winner for 2011 will be announced at the Saturday potluck dinner at the Border Terrier Canada Specialty Show. The Molly Award is sponsored by the "All About Me" Fan Club, a.k.a. Molly's entourage. |