If you know us at all, you know we have an unreasonable amount of dogs. We didn’t plan it that way, it just happened. It has suddenly occured to me that I used to say the same thing when people asked how many children I had. Oh well, I like adventure and surprises, and a little chaos keeps us young.

We started off with Willie, the best weiner dog in all of Powhatan. That’s what Ken calls him and it is now his professional name. Ken is  House Supervisor at the hospital. He makes rounds and flirts with all the nurses. He is charming and has a magnificent sense of humour. He can dead-pan quicker than anyone I know. I call him ‘Slutty McSluterstein’. This tends to annoy him, he is the most faithful man I know, but I like giving people crap. So…As he makes his rounds, he talks about our life. Everyone knows Willie. Willie suffered a back injury before Ken and I got together. He has a disk disease that Doxie’s are prone to. Ken took him to the University of St Louis to have surgery. Now Willie is Willie the wonder dog. He has had a few instances of paralysis, but we always bring him back around. Everyone always wants to know how Willie, the finest dog in all of Powhatan, is doing.

Willie is a character.He loves to chase squirrels. Ken encourages this by screaming ‘SQUIRREL’ and winding Willie up. I just feel sorry for the squirrel. I follow Humans of New York on Facebook, a man whose picture was taken on a bench in Central Park said, “People say they are animal lovers. Then they bring their dogs to the park and let them chase squirrels. Squirrels are animals too, dumba**, and you are scaring the sh** out of them.” I think that pretty much sums up how I feel about Willie and squirrels.

We live on a lake. Willie freaks out at waves. He will run as fast as his short, crippled legs will carry him, stop just in time, before flying head first into the lake, and bark at the waves. He will do this for hours. He means it! He will bark, bellow and bawl nonstop. He is furious at this splashy phenomonom trying to crash itself into his territory. When we finally scold him and tell him we have had enough of his fury for the day, he kicks his back legs and gruffs around as if to say “Aha!! I’ve kept you at bay another day, you contemptable arse.”

Oh, and Willie is British in my head. When the kids and I talk for him, it’s always in a British accent. He is very regal, he can look down his nose at someone to rival Prince Charles. So, if you ever meet Willie, he will like you a lot quicker if you bow during the introductions.

Willie loves riding the 4-wheeler, the mule, going to see Uncle Jim and Aunt Ellen and their pup, Pocket. However, the thing that Willie loves most, is fishing. You can simply ask him, ‘Willie, do you want to go FISHING?!?!”. The exuberant, frantic, hysterical response leaves no room for doubt that he is, indeed, ready to go fishing. He races down to our dock, leaps into the boat and takes his rightful place at the helm. He rides proud and tall, ears back and stands steady as a rock until we get to our favorite fishing hole. When Ken finally gets the rod in his hands and casts the first cast, Willie starts barking. He barks the whole time. It seems he will surely run out of breath and give it a rest. No. Such. Luck. When Ken finally reels a fish in, Willie is in a total state of delerium until Ken gets the fish in the boat. It doesn’t matter in the least the size of the fish, Willie attacks with a vengence. Ken has a 10 pound catfish, slippery, horned and pissed, flipping and flopping, trying to free itself from this death hook. Carefully trying not to get barbed by the fish, stuck with the hook and fighting Willie off, Ken eventually gets the fish to the live well and slams the door shut. On every trip, Will gets to keep a small fish. He firmly plants his feet on the tail of the fish, rips it’s head off and scales the fish. Oh yes, he scales it. Finally, his sushi dinner. Then we start all over again.

There is never a dull moment at our house. In the chaos of it all, Willie is the leader. He lets everyone know, in no uncertain terms, that he is the pack leader. It doesn’t matter that he is small and kind of crippled and a bit over the hill, he is still the boss.

I’m so glad you got to meet Willie, you’re life will be better for it. He will teach you humility, tenacity and love. He has the biggest heart. His sense of adventure is contagious and his curiosity will most likely get you into trouble. Cats, snakes, turtles and fish. He will want you to tag along with him.We love all of our dogs, but the general concensus in our home is that Willie is number one hound dog.