I may have mentioned a time or two, that we do not live in a very friendly neighborhood. We do know our neighbors on either side of us but for the most part, the neighbors keep to themselves. Maybe we get a wave here or there, but mostly they stick to themselves.
We have met one lovely neighbor who lives across the street from us. We met her when a branch from her tree fell, and brushed Hubby’s Jeep as he was coming home from the park with Sampson in the car. Hubby and I went over to help clean up the tree and that’s when we met Ms. Erika.
She is an older woman who lives with MS and she is truly one of those remarkable people. Even though she has bad days, most days you’ll see her slowly making her way down her driveway with her walker in order to get her mail. In fact, the very first time we met her, she was outside picking up small bits of branches and carrying them to the trash using her walker.
Miss Erika is originally from Sweden and she lives alone. Her husband passed away before we met her and she recently lost her furry companion, her kitty Molly. Miss Erika absolutely LOVES Sampson and Delilah and they love her in return!
Every time we walk past her house, Sampson and Delilah look up at it, hoping to see her. If she’s at the window and calls to us, we have to go see her. She’ll come out and sit on her steps and then the dogs go over to say hello.
If I run into Miss Erika without the dogs, like in the grocery store…she always asks after Simon and Delilah. LOL, sometimes she forgets and calls Sampson, Simon. But when she sees him, she remembers his name.
Miss Erika has a friend that brings her to the grocery store every Sunday. She pulls up to the store and lets Miss Erika out, then they both do their grocery shopping.
Sunday, the dogs and I were just coming back from our afternoon walk when Miss Erika and her friend Denise passed us. They both waved excitedly and since we were almost home anyway, and Miss Erika’s house was just one house up, I thought I’d take the dogs over to say hello.
Miss Erika was sitting in the car when we got to her driveway, while Denise was setting up the walker. Sampson quickly said hello to Miss Erika and then started ‘chatting’ with Denise. I was paying attention to Sampson and Denise, while Delilah was saying hello to Miss Erika.
Suddenly Miss Erika said, “And there goes Delilah.”
I turned in time to see Delilah pushing her way past Miss Erika’s legs as she climbed into the front floor of the car. Before you could say, “DELILAH” she was over the front seat and into the back one, inspecting the groceries.
I had to drop her leash, run around the car and extract her via the rear passenger door. Yeah. You read that right. My dog climbs OVER a disabled woman to try and eat her groceries. There goes my hopes for the Canine Companion certificate.
No! Of course, I didn’t pull out the camera to snap her picture. Can you imagine? “Um, excuse me Denise? Would you mind holding Sampson’s leash while I take a photo of Delilah scavenging through your groceries?”
Because clearly, Delilah is so food motivated that she is fearless in her attempts to find food.
Need proof?
This was Delilah checking out an empty crate after one of our training classes. Note, the crates are stacked on top of each other and she’s working on the top one.
I’m sure someone was getting fed treats in here. If I could just reach a little further back.
Or how about the time Delilah decided to ‘inspect’ our trainers car trunk?
Excuse, I need to inspect this trunk for any crumbs of food.
Just a little bit further, we can’t take the chance of missing something.
Sadly, you’re clean. Really, what’s a dog got to do to get some food?
Yup, there goes Delilah.
LOL See… fresh blog fodder courtesy of Delilah! She is really something with that food focus!
Oh my gosh that is so funny! Delilah, you naughty scavenger, you!!! 😀
That’s nice you have a neighbor you like! We haven’t met any nice ones yet!
Gah! No, D. You’re supposed to wait till the disabled person gets OUT first. THEN hop in and eat the groceries. Jeez. Have some manners….
Love and licks,
Cupcake
We enjoy food, but definitely don’t have that type of food drive! How embarrassing, yet funny…well, since it didn’t happen to us! LOL!
Bahahahaha!!! Canine Good Citizen Fail at its finest! That reminds me of when Blueberry almost knocked down the sweet old hot dog carrying lady (with a bad hip, mind you) in the park and ripped the bag from the old lady’s hands so she could help herself. At that moment, I fully realized she’d never make a good therapy dog. Before that incident, she almost knocked an oxygen tank off a sidewalk that another old lady was attached to – and there wasn’t even food involved. It’s really embarrassing, isn’t it? I mean – come on – these are old, frail people and our dogs lack even basic empathy and/or manners. I always wanted a dog like you hear on those nice news stories where the dog protects a baby duck and raises it or helps small animals or children. But no, I have Blueberry and you, well, you have Delilah. At least they keep us entertained!
Oh My, that girl!
LOL!!! Oh my!!! You crazy pup!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Such adorable photos. 🙂
That is too funny!! In the trunk and climbing over anyone to get to the food!! She loves to eat. I like that in a girl!!
Bwahahaha! When Puck my sheepdog was still alive, we were on a walk when she climbed onto a bench at a store in the small shopping square of restaurants and boutiques near the house. Before I could even wraggle her lard a$$ off, she laid in a lady’s lap. Luckily she was a good sport about it but I was horrified. Food & dogs…they make your life so interesting especially with the neighbors. The really cute ones really endear themselves with their antics so it’s no wonder Ms. Erika is totally taken in by the D-dog. 😉
She’s just doing her part to uphold the Labrador reputation 🙂
We knew Delilah would come through with a good story for you! As long as your very nice neighbor was not hurt or anything, we can laugh, right?
Not every dog is cut out to be a therapy dog but maybe Delilah could do nose work or something? It sounds like she’d be good at those container searches that Emma does. 🙂
ok must admit that now i think of Delilah as hoover dog though not in a mean way.
your pics. and how you use them to help tell the story is very creative. even on just a pic. day with a caption is a complete story. keep blogging and know that your bring lots of lol moments as well as aww how sweet.
i also liked the pictures you did on different subjects such as the mill and the fall leaves. through them we share your walks with your dogs.
Silly girl! 🙂
Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious! Miss Erika’s probably still laughing about that and she’ll be telling everyone the story of Delilah and the groceries, lol!
Oh, Delilah! YOU are a piece of work!! But that’s okay cuz we all love you anyway.
You never know when there might be some food worth eating around.