How Mabel Celebrated Her 5th Birthday

Mabel was born during Covid, but she was not a Covid dog. Joe and I were not bored during Covid; we didn’t say to ourselves: “What would relieve our boredom? Ahh, a puppy.” We had actually been looking for a rough collie for 2 years, and finally got notice from a breeder that a female sable had been born. 8 weeks later we drove to Idaho to pick up Mabel.

Mabel celebrated her 5th birthday last week. The day began as usual: Mabel got up from her bed, stretched, yawned, stretched, yawned, and stretched. I told her “happy birthday,” which was not a usual thing to say; this is when things took off. Mabel wandered around the back yard a while, relaxed on the deck a while, and then came in and received 2 small treats (normally she only gets ONE small treat). Joe made a party hat for Mabel to wear, which she did off and on throughout the day. We gave her 2.5 scoops of food (normally she only gets TWO scoops of food), then loaded her into the car and took her to the dog park.

The dog park is hit or miss. Sometimes there are friends, and sometimes no friends. This time there were 2 friends, but after a brief “hello,” neither felt like acknowledging her further. Their loss. Mabel didn’t need them; she knew how to celebrate solo. She chased a ball that Joe threw, and chased a ragged chunk of rope that Joe threw. She rolled in the grass like a horse. When she was good and tired, we took her to the pet store and let her wander the aisles and sniff the treat bins. She selected a nice assortment of snacks to bring home. A shop employee told Mabel she was an angel on Earth.

We made pizza for dinner, and Mabel got to enjoy some crusts. Then, with an overstuffed belly, she fell asleep on the sofa and dreamed about sheep (as one does on their birthday and every day).