Tough day for Molly

Being a part of a family is wonderful.  You get all sorts of love and support.  But belonging to a family also brings with it certain responsibilities.  You have to pitch in and help out.  This means doing a chore or a favor from time to time.  It may not always be what you want to do, but it is what is expected when you are a part of a family.
And I am not just talking about people here.  I am talking about each and every member of a family.  As many of you know, we have several furry family members.  And the furries do not get a free pass.  There are garbage men to bark at and birds and other critters to chase.

Last Wednesday was a particularly busy day for us at the Crazy Key House.  And our littlest furry Key had a day jam packed full of important jobs.

First the kids and I went to the commissary.  We got back and we were trying to get all the groceries unloaded before it was time to head to our next engagement.  I was having some trouble fitting all of the new items into the fridge.  I bought 2 containers of tomatoes, and those were the last things that I was trying to find a place to put them.  I was also keeping the kids and track and a few other things.  So when everything was in the fridge, I thought, "yes!"  I had no idea that my helpful little Molly was aware of my plight.  And bless her heart, she was ready to help.  She made the executive decision to just find another place for those tomatoes.  And it was all really quite clever. 

She snacked on a few.







And then she decided that the plastic case was not a suitable storage receptacle.

I think you'll be impressed with her final decision.

So after the troublesome task of putting away most of the groceries, the kids and I were off again to our next commitment.  I am sure Molly was busy guarding the house from neighborhood kids and UPS trucks while we were gone.  I mean, a dog as helpful as she is would never just take the afternoon off.

Later on, after we were home, I was working on the dishes.  I had not had a chance with our early morning errands to get the dishwasher loaded and unloaded.  And let me tell you, this is a job that I pretty much cannot do alone.  Ever since Molly arrived on the scene, she is my devoted dishwasher dog, for sure.

And she takes her job very seriously, too.  She has developed techniques to get at some of the dishes that would be out of reach for a less experienced dog.

Just look at her form.

She does like to be noticed when she is working this hard. 

"Look we me, Mom, sacrificing my body for your dishes."







We could all learn something from this devoted little helper, couldn't we?

But even the most devoted and hardest working among us have rough days, right?
The stress of the day can really start to wear on you.
Apparently, Molly is no different.
Remember when I said that we had put away most of the groceries?  Well, little Molly apparently saw something that she thought she might need.  She stashed it away for another time. 
And I guess after the busy say she had, it was a good thing.
Some days you can get a headache.






And if this happens and you are a dog, you are in trouble.
What with the no opposable thumbs thing, opening much needed medication can be difficult.
I mean, you can get the box open and the top off pretty easily.






But darn that child-proof and apparently (thankfully) dog-proof safety seal.
She had to give up.
She left it in the yard for me to find.







Here is a closer look at her valiant attempt.






I guess I better do a better job at keeping medicine out of reach of children - human AND canine. . .

After a hard day of helping me and doing her chores, she was worn out. 
I guess she just gave up on the "headache medicine" and just went on to sleep.










We are so lucky to have such a helpful little dog.