The wonders of peanut butter

Sorry, no criminals today.
Actual dogs on this Dog Blog, yes. That I can do.
I have a small black dog with big brown eyes.
Her name is Sophie and she’s been with me for almost three years now.
I like to say I rescued her from the pound. But more days than not it’s she that does the rescuing. And it leads me to believe that a dog who consents to be a person’s friend gives a friendship that’s like no other.
I happened upon this fluffy pup at the Greenville Humane Society.
It was a busy Saturday in the puppy room. Kids and parents were giggling and gasping over tiny brown and white and yellow dogs.
But no one was looking at the larger black dog. The one laying quietly in her cage, perhaps wondering what others had that she didn’t.
But I saw her and lifted the latch of the steel cage door. I picked her up and she laid her little head on my shoulder and I’m almost certain she breathed a sigh of relief.
She does all the usual things that dogs are said to do.
Waits at the window for me. (I think all day she must lie there.)
Sits with me on the couch.
Watches whatever I want to watch on TV.
Appreciates a dollop of peanut butter any time of day.
Thumps her tail when we have our conversations. And we do have them.
Like the time we tried to solve the “who is letting their dog mess in our yard” question. Nothing came of it. Just Sophie’s brown eyes, filled to the top of her brown iris’ with as much confusion as I ever could muster.
For my birthday this year I decided Sophie might like a little brother or sister. Someone small and sweet and well, did I say small?
I know someone who has a miniature pinscher and so I decided upon one.
A Google search led me to the Internet Miniature Pinscher Service (IMPS.)
Luck led me to Dickens.
She had been put in a box and left at a humane society in another part of the state.
She was shy at first. Her chubby and shiny and black body would shake and she usually retreated beneath a blanket or under a bed. (A shyness Sophie simply did not understand. This Sophie who would make friends with a porcupine if nature would allow.)
But it’s been about two months now. She is spending less time under the bed and more time on my lap.
She’s warming up to Sophie. Sophie is learning to wait. And we’re all learning that a little time, a little extra love and a dollop of peanut butter do wonders for all of us.