Attacked by friendliness

On Saturday morning, March 24, 1990, just eight days after our dog Bandit died, Rachael was reading the classifieds in the Deseret News and came across this ad: "Labrador/Golden Retriever 3 yrs old, female, neutered. Looking for good home. Free. 561-1982."

Mom called the number to see if the dog was still available. It was. And so that afternoon everyone but Talmage piled into the car and, with Michael at the wheel, drove to West Jordan to meet the dog and see if she was for us. The affection we felt for Bandit would be hard to replace.

Muffit was what greeted us. Or maybe attacked would be more accurate. Like Tigger in Winnie the Pooh, Muffit is an exuberant, bouncy, enthusiastic, friendly critter who loves to be around, or all over, people. Light honey in color, she looks more Lab than Retriever, and in personality and temperament is very different from Bandit. She's a loud, energetic breather, and her tongue is always licking whoever's in reach. In personality she must be a yellow.

The family she was leaving had taught her some tricks, such as sit, roll over, shake, and speak. They said they were gone all the time, and Muffit—very much a people dog—needed a family who would be around more.

After romping around with her for a while, we decided we'd take her home. We planned to keep her mostly chained in the patio area by the back door until she gets used to living here. The only problem was that she jumped all over whoever comes in or goes out the door. We hoped she would calm down when she got used to being here and found out we won't be gone all the time. Her first night she slept chained outside, some of the night on the step in front of the door, some of the night in the doghouse Grandpa built the previous November for Bandit.

Five-year-old Mary said of Muffit: "She's gentle, she's nice, and she's kind. And I like her very much. And she's very, very, very, very nice. And she loves to fetch her little shoe. And she loves to play soccer. She only kicks with her nose and kicks with her feet."

Eliza, nearly seven, said, "I like her because she's so fun to play with. If you give her a treat, she'll do tricks before you give it to her—sit down, roll over, and give you her hand, and speak. She'll jump on the beam and goes through the hoop. And she's funny. She likes to lick people a lot."

Eight-year-old Camilla said, "I think she's very nice, but she barks too much. She does lots of tricks, and she looks nice."

Muffit was a part of the family for the next seven years. Finally, she grew to be old and very decrepit. Near the end, she could barely move, and we finally had her put to sleep on Tuesday afternoon, July 30, 1996. Another very sad day. Muffit and Talmage had been especially close, and she died less than two months after he had started his mission.