Our first night at Buck Lake we had just settled in to the cabin when Lilo starts barking her, “There is someone outside!” bark. We turn on the porch light and are a little freaked out to see a giant German Shepard at the door. We are not sure what to think-is it friendly? Will it eat us? Will it eat Molly or Lilo?
Finally we all go outside and introduce ourselves and the dog seems pretty friendly. There was a rabies tag on the collar but no name or information so we called her Morgaine. She hung out on the front porch and then followed us out down to the dock, but wouldn’t come out and sit with us. We assumed she left. Nope. Just stood guard at the edge of the water and waited for us to come back. Then we saw her lift her leg to pee and changed his name to Merlin. Then Sage. Then George. Finally we settled on George Merlin Sage. We joked that he was there to keep Joe company since he was the only one without a dog. Then we went to bed and George just flopped down on the porch and went to sleep. He pretty much never left for the rest of the week.
At first it was cute but it started to get annoying. Lilo was tolerant of George but didn’t really like him. And he would steal her ball, which makes me crazy. We thought about going to find an owner but didn’t want to seem like assholes since we were here for a week and they lived here all the time.
So I tried to romanticize the idea of the dog. Maybe he would end up saving us from a bear! Or maybe he was under the spell of an enchantress and would turn back into a human if we gave him ten dog treats and let him in the house!
Eventually we found out that, “George” was really Buddy and lived up the road with an “old Indian. He’s deaf from the owner shooting guns off over his head.” Some of Joe’s relatives take him in when they are up at the lake and give him a bath and take care of him, but that’s only a few times a summer. So I felt bad for being annoyed by him, but I still just wanted him to go the fuck home. But then, just when you can’t stand the sight of him you start to think about what his life is like and feel sorry for him again.
Whenever we would start to feel too bad about George we would try to pretend that he wasn’t so bad off. “Well he’s not skinny. He must be being fed.” “His nails aren’t too long so someone’s taking care of him.” “Lots of lake communities have dogs that just run around during the summer season.” Then you would look into his eyes and see just how much he wanted attention. He played so well with Molly.
He would wake me up at night by barking furiously at some unknown creature-tearing off in one direction or another. It was kind of scary because you didn’t know what he was after. You knew it was probably the outdoor cat that lived up there but you were never quite sure.
On one of our last days I had totally reached the end of my rope with George when Joe told me had taken Lilo’s ball and run off into the woods with it. That was it. I went stomping off in the direction he had gone, seething with resentment over the damn dog. George saw where I was going and he pranced off ahead of me and I was like, “Go away. I don’t like you!” Never mind that he couldn’t hear me-he knew what I was thinking. Then he came back with the ball and gave it to Lilo. Gave it to her. So I felt like crap again. I reminded Lilo that not all doggies were as lucky as her and that we should share. She totally understood that poor George had no toys and no one to love him. Lilo and I let him keep the ball and I threw it for him a few times.
That night we made burgers for dinner and Joe made three extra-one for each dog. When George was given his he took it in his mouth and then set it down, looking to Joe for approval-like he had done something wrong. I almost cried. We gave him the leftovers.
By morning he drove me crazy again. He had kept me up most of the night and then Lilo wouldn’t come out to play because she didn’t want to deal with him. I pleaded with him to just leave Lilo and me alone. Willed him to leave us alone. It didn’t work. So Lilo and I pouted and gave him dirty looks. He didn’t seem to notice.
When we left we gave him the left over dog food and what was left of the bones that we had bought Lilo and Molly from the butcher shop. He didn’t say goodbye-just snarled at Molly when she came too close to the bone.
I wonder how long he waited for us to come back. Or maybe he understood the packing and just finished the bones and went off to find the next group of vacationers he could hang with. Maybe he went home.
I wish him the best but I don’t miss him.
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