It’s Thursday.. and I have a lot to say today for Dog’s On Thursday…
First and foremost is.. Murphy really truly is all better. To see him you’d never know he had some strange incident a few weeks ago… he’s back to rummaging through the garbage, climbing on the couch, stealing snacks in the pantry, eating the cat’s food,… yeah.. all his bad boy behaviors are back in full force! Typical! Course.. I love him to pieces.. and only will rarely scold him for these annoyances anymore… all I need to do is give that ‘look’ and he knows.. and skulks off to his spot on the carpet to lay in a sun beam for a few hours!
I have been searching for what seems like months now for the album I had of Murphy’s puppy pictures.. and last night while searching for something entirely unrelated, I found it! 
There are actually some better pictures ’somewhere’…but this album had the main photos I was looking for! I couldn’t have asked for better timing…
Murphy was adopted from the Bangor branch of the ASPCA Humane Society, in Bangor Maine on December 2, 1994, at 8 weeks old, and was one of two pups left from his litter. His sister cowered in the back of the kennel but Murphy ran right up to me licking and jumping on me…
he chose me…
The folks there had very little information on him, but thought that he was a Springer Spaniel and Lab mix… but my gut screamed no.. he’s got Border Collie in him… the way he looks now, you can’t help but see the chunky adult lab in him.. but he still looks remarkably like a short haired Border… Murphy was smart at skills I’ve seen other dogs NEVER accomplish, like, deliberately walking around poles, sign posts, mailboxes etc, so that his leash wouldn’t tangle… meanwhile Chewy would wrap herself around it so many times I’d want to just hit my head against the ground! Murph would never dream of pottying anywhere but a grassy or leaf strewn area.. while Chewy would go right in the middle of the road if that’s where she so desired… just silly things that I don’t believe are ‘trained’ things… now… his intelligence stopped there… the poor thing gets himself into all sorts of ridiculous predicaments… and the word COME is not part of his vocabulary… he’s been all MALE and selectively deaf since I can recall!
At the time when I got Murphy, I rented a room in a co-worker’s home. Beth was one of the staff scientists at the Jackson Laboratory where I worked in research. She had a 13 year old dog, named Toby, and Toby became a surrogate Mom to my Murphy…
They were adorable together. She taught him right from wrong and always kept him in line.. I have a very large stack of photos where Toby’s so obviously telling Murphy who’s the boss!
When he was really small, he could easily escape from Toby by running under the coffee table in the living room… but one day when he was bigger than he realized, he ran STRAIGHT into the side of the table hard… poor guy didn’t even see it coming… he just assumed he’d still fit right underneath it… and if Beth and I weren’t laughing so hard I might have worried for his poor little head for a moment 
It still amazes me at how much bigger he got in the first two months I had him (don’t know if you noticed the dates up there, but the upper photos, of him as a wee pup were taken in early December, and this last one with Murphy and Toby competing for the frisbee, is on Jan 27, 1995. Only 8 weeks after I’d gotten him!
Murphy is an athlete’s dog… which means… he too is an athlete… Murphy did everything from Hike, camp, swim, kayak and run with me… He adored our summer time blueberry picking hikes, and would lay in the shrubs and munch away at the berries.. he still loves blueberries today!
Blueberrying in Bar Harbor Maine, 1995
Camping/Hiking in Watkins Glen, NY, 1995
Kayaking on Kayuga Lake, NY (yes, he’d even climb into the kayaks after he got tired of swimming!)
I don’t have any photos of our long runs together… but I do wish I did.. .they’d be so great!
I’ve ‘tortured’ Murphy through the years with Halloween Costumes
Crazy holiday photos
and let’s not even discuss the human kids!
He’s just another part of the family! I still think about it and can’t believe that he’s already 13 1/2… how did the time fly so quickly?!?!
For Dogs on Thursday, Murphy wants to send a ‘welcome’ and ‘invitation’ to Max to join the Dogs on Thursday group!
Is he not the cutest little guy!
