By Tracy Ahrens
Trucker is a ladies’ man. Human or canine, he loves ladies and ladies love him.
He’s only been in my life for one year and has attracted eight female neighbor dogs: Trina, Princess, Bosco, Molly, Angel, Munchkin, Maggie and a miniature dachshund named Trixie.
It’s not that he’s opposed to male dogs, but it seems that we are surrounded by females. They all seek his attention because he is the “tall, dark and handsome” boy next door.
I’ve seen female dogs pull their owners by the leash towards my yard just to sniff noses with Trucker. If he is walking loose in my front yard with me, Trucker slowly saunters over to sniff female dogs passing by with their masters.
Trina, a cream-colored Shih Tzu that lives next door, crawls under the fence with my help. She greets Trucker by standing on her hind legs and putting her front paws on either side of his neck; a kind of doggie hug I guess.
On a recent run to the river across a lane from our home, Trucker spotted Bosco, a lovely yellow Labrador-mix, in a nearby yard. He dashed to greet her, and without second thoughts, they sped off together to her home. Now, when he sees her on a walk with her master, he gets so excited to visit with her that he has jumped our fence to do so.
Molly, a tan pit bull mix that lives a few houses away, sometimes wiggles her way out of her fenced-in yard. Without fail, she makes her way to our home and peacefully stands in the front yard waiting for Trucker, or me to spot her. She usually comes in to our back yard to run with Trucker until I get a leash to walk her back home.
Angel, a Bichon Frise, was walking with her mom one evening to a small park nearby. Trucker was standing in our driveway watching her patiently until I asked the lady if Angel was friendly. With an “Okay” from the lady, Trucker walked with me to see Angel. He made her so excited she couldn’t stand still, wrapping up her mom with a leash and whining with joy. Her mom said that Angel had never acted like that before.
That’s because Trucker is a regular Don Juan, according to several of my friends who know of his magnetic personality to other female dogs.
He not only draws attention from female dogs, it seems that female neighbors are drawn to his coyness, svelte physique and brown eyes. In fact, one neighbor bakes dog biscuits as a part time business. Trucker learned this and became the routine recipient of slightly burnt, broken cookie bits she wants to dispose of but not throw away.
If Trucker sees her while we are outside doing yard work, he trots next door, up onto her deck and looks through her front door window until she sees him. She lets him inside and he walks into her kitchen and “speaks” or “begs” for a cookie.
Dalphine, a neighbor on the other side of our property, loves to bring Trucker extra food she and her husband have prepared. Sometimes it is half of a hamburger, or biscuits and gravy left over from breakfast. Dal slides it under the fence in a pie pan. She has several pie pans specifically for Trucker (called “Trucker’s Pans”).
Trucker hears Dal’s voice and will trot to the fence to see her, his tail straight up in the air. She leans over the fence and kisses him on the forehead, showering him with words of, “You’re such a good boy.” He puts his front paws on the top fence rail and whimpers for more attention.
A retiree with a love of animals, Dal now keeps a box of large dog biscuits in her kitchen so that when she sees Trucker in my yard, she can come out to share one with him.
Trucker’s latest female doggie friend is Munchkin, a dachshund-beagle-shepherd mix that belongs to the aforementioned dog biscuit maker next door. Munchkin came to live next door at the age of 3 or 4 months. She was the size of a small dachshund and scurried around her big yard like a Tazmanian Devil. Eventually, she came into our yard for short visits by crawling under the chain link fence as I lifted it up. Trucker became dizzy by her running circles around him. She’d collapse on her side from exhaustion.
As she grew, Munchkin would run into my house behind Trucker. She’d share his water bowl and a stash of rawhides in his crate, then jump onto my queen-size bed with him.
The number one woman in Trucker’s life, however, is me. He shows it with his brown puppy-dog eyes and by flirtatiously rolling on his back while nestled in the middle of my bed. I’ve planted a plethora of kisses on the bridge of his nose and forehead. I tell him “I love you” so often that he thinks it is his name.
He is my canine Casanova.
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Tracy Ahrens is a veteran journalist, author, artist and mom to three rescued cats and one dog. See her web site at www.tracyahrens.weebly.com and add her book, “Raising My Furry Children” to your collection, www.raisingmyfurrychildren.weebly.com
