My Paw-Paw wrote this piece about me being out of town with Little Girl, my person. I love how much he loves me and misses me. Right back at ya, Big Fella. :)
I’ve you’ve been following my writing for a decent amount of time, you have probably noticed that I write about our dog Libby frequently. Or Mooch, as she has been officially nicknamed.
My buddy Tom Russo gave her that name. Russo has never met her face-to-face, only through social media. Come to think of it, we’ve never met Cuz face-to-face either. But he’s my Italian cousin from another auntie.
He’s the one that noticed her tendency of begging, in many of the photos I’ve posted of her on social media. Case in point:
There isn’t anything Mooch loves more than some tasty people food. Though we aren’t supposed to be feeding her any. Not even tiny bites. This according to her person.
Her person is my daughter Kiera. She brought Libby into our lives about seven years ago. Her dad bought Libby for Kiera when she was about 7 years old. Then she started coming over to our house weekly, on the weeks we had the kids. We fell in love with her.
We’ve had her full-time for five years. He moved about an hour and a half away and she didn’t go over there weekly anymore. So we’ve had the pleasure of having Libby full-time.
This weekend, our daughter made the last-minute decision to take Libby with her to her dad’s for the week. I was sad to see her go, but Mooch is her dog and she rarely makes the trip over there. There’s a reason for that.
Mooch is what you call an alpha. You wouldn’t guess it by looking at her, but she has more balls than just about any dog. Though she’s only about 13 or 14 lbs, she gets all of the terrible traits from the Pomeranian and Chihuahua breeds she’s mixed with. She has far more balls than brains.
They have three other dogs over at her dad’s house. A smaller chihuahua that’s Libby’s age, a big Pit-Rott mix who’s about three years old, and a smaller puppy. Libby comes in and cleans house like Dalton in Roadhouse.
“I thought you’d be bigger”
*Proceeds to put every dog in their place with no fear
I’ve seen this dog bum-rush pit bulls, boxers, and rottweilers. Libby-Badger don’t give a fuck. She sees any four-legged creature as her enemy. I’ve tried to teach her to respect other dogs, especially big ones. She’s not trying to hear that.
Mooch is a little overweight. We fat-shame her from time to time, though I know that isn’t very cool. We started calling her “Big Chungus” a few years ago. She didn’t seem to know where that reference came from, so I had to show her on the TV:

I know we shouldn’t tease her. If she wasn’t so proficient in begging, we wouldn’t have this problem. Sadly, she’s a world-class beggar. When your official nickname is “Mooch”, there’s a reason.
See that little move in the pic above? That’s called, “The Baby Paw”. It’s gently placed on my leg, in a non-obtrusive way. It’s Mooch’s way of saying, “Hey. I like dinner, too. Just a friendly reminder.” I tell her, “GET YOUR LITTLE BABY PAW OFF OF ME.” She laughs because she knows I’m kidding. And because she’s hungry.
Cuz is always saying how Mooch needs to go on a diet. That she should get on Jenny Craig, or switch to salads. Sadly, she’s not a fan of healthy eating. Wonder where she got those bad habits from? Her Italian daddy? Dunno. I did try to get her on fruit, with mixed results.
Check out this brief video of her eating an apple piece. It’s hilarious if you crank your volume up to full.
Watch Mooch's video here:
Sadly, Big Chungus didn’t lose a noticeable amount of weight. Not enough to keep the fruit thing going. I know we should try again, it’s been a while. But our progress is continually derailed, due in part to my own poor eating habits.
But hey, the McRib was just back, for a limited time only. As you can see in the pic below, Mooch is a fan of its return every year:

We do have to watch what we give her, though. She only gets tiny little morsels of food, not decent-sized bites. I don’t want her to think I’m being selfish or that I don’t love her.
But I know I need to love her enough to not overfeed her with people food. Recently, she was underfoot in the kitchen while I was cooking. You can see in the pic below, she has a favorite spot she lays on and when I drop something, Roomba is suddenly on the job.
I don’t mind her hanging out in the kitchen when I’m cooking. But if she’s getting under my feet, it can be problematic. Especially when we have really hot stuff going, like boiling water or oil.
I had to block her from the kitchen not long ago after she almost tripped me near boiling oil on the stove. She didn’t take kindly to it and pushed through my barricade. I reinforced it and this was the reaction I got:
Saddest Mooch video here:
She has other annoying habits besides the begging and being rude to other dogs. She barks every time there’s a doorbell on TV. She barks any time anyone goes near my Bride. She’s very possessive and defensive of her.
She licks my face to wake me up every morning if I turn over in her direction. She hates being in the bathtub. She’ll fall down her little stairs up to our tall bed once in a while.
And I miss all of these things. I forget how often it’s just the two of us at home while I’m writing. She likes to curl up and nap against my leg, or under my elbow. She makes a hell of an armrest.

It’s been quiet these past few days without her here with me. Though I don’t have to get up to take her out numerous times throughout the day, and I’ve gotten to eat 100% of each meal I’ve had since she left, I miss her terribly.
I talk to her frequently. If I leave the room, I tell her where I’m going and why. Though I’m certain she doesn’t understand most of the words I say, I have to think she appreciates that I keep her informed of my every move.
She’ll be back this weekend. And I look forward to putting up with her barking, begging, and her little baby paw on my leg at dinner time. Because I love our little Mooch. &:^)
Mooch's apple noises sound a lot like my cat eating treats. Or anything that required good chewing, as opposed to wet food which he vacuumed.
I saw a McRib ad last week and thought of you and your papa, Libby.
Yes I bet she appreciates being informed. Its amazing how much dogs understand. This morning, coffee in hand, I announced to Leo, “I’m going back to the bedroom”. Before I headed there he left his squirrel-watching post and went directly to the bedroom.
Love reading about you and Mooch, Love the pics, Thanks for sharing.