We adopted her from a shelter in the Twin Cities – No Dog Left Behind.
She was a pack dog on a reservation in South Dakota. Every few years, us humans sweep the reservations of dogs without homes and put them into shelters all over the country to wait for adoption. This keeps the packs from getting too big, which also controls the dogs’ temperament. The bigger the pack, the more aggressive the dogs. If they sweep them while the pack is still small, the dogs will make for great family pets.
Nellie is a great family pet. She doesn’t bark. Doesn’t get aggressive – even when you take away her food or grab for the bone in her mouth. She’s goofy. She’s low energy, except for 10 minutes every day. It usually hits her at night when she’s just on the verge of being overly tired. She’ll sprint from room to room, her paws barely finding traction on the carpet beneath them. She un-makes the bed as she jumps up and then quickly down, only to go flying down the hallway and back into the living room.
If you’re sitting on the floor, she’ll come running at you as if she’s going to plow into you, but she swerves at the last-minute and does a quick 360 around you. 10 minutes she does this. Then, out of no where, she stops. She lays down, and she sleeps. In these wild moments, we call her “Pack Nellie.” We imagine it’s her alter ego.
She stands at your feet when you sit in a chair. She was standing here just a minute ago. “Pay attention to me, Mom,” I imagine her saying. “Did you forget about me?”
When she grows annoyed of your averted looks, she finds her yellow gummy bear toy. I accidentally stole it before I even had a dog. I bought two garbage cans and when I got home, I looked inside. There they were – three larger than life gummy bears. One in red, one in green, and one in yellow. I had purchased the cans at a store over an hour away. They had been clearanced. I set them on the window sill in the dining room. They made for good conversation starters at dinner parties.
She takes the yellow bear in her mouth and runs. Shakes her head with a low growl. She has a hunting ability. I imagine its part of her Pack Nellie ego.
She cuddles. More than any dog I’ve ever met. She doesn’t know her own size. Doesn’t understand that 40lbs is too big for a lap dog, but she doesn’t let that stop her.
At night, when my husband and I are in bed, we invite her to come up for a few minutes to snuggle before we turn the lights out. She’ll have to get down before we close our eyes. It’s doesn’t matter how small of a space there is between him and I, when she comes up, she lays between us. She falls asleep quickly. In the morning when we wake up, she’s still there.
“Tonight she has to get down,” we both agree. And every morning, we wake up with her beside us.
