My Mack

Yes, he is My Mack! I know this because I am consistently reminded of things “Your dog did”, that’s how I know he is mine. That’s fine. I’ll take him. After all, I did win him fair and square.

We brought Mack home the night of the 2008 Superbowl. The Giants played the Patriots. The family who invited us to watch the game at their house had a barn dog that recently had puppies. The puppies were a few days from going to the pound. I bet Scott that if the Giants won, we got to take one home. By the time we made it to the third quarter, it was pretty clear it didn’t matter who won, we were still taking one home. By that time we had decided that we would name the puppy after the team that won. I am embarrassed to admit that when we brought Mack home, he actually had the name of “Giant”. We quickly realized that “Giant” did not fit him and decided to name him Mack – short for Macdoel, where he came from.

Since then he has been called all sorts of things, “Mack Attack”, Mack-aroni”, Mark-Donald”, “Bad Dog”, “No”, “Stop That”, “Bad Dog”. Did I say that last one twice? That’s probably because that’s the one I hear the most. He’s really not that bad, he just has a lot of energy.

Here are some things that you need to know about Mack:

1. He loves the cat. Daisy (our other dog) and the cat could never be left alone because Daisy had it out for her. But not Mack.

 From day one, he and the cat bonded. To this day, the cat knows she is safe if Mack is around.

2. Mack has these eyes that see right through you. (He also has these lips that I have never seen on a dog before!)

3. He gives great “high-fives”. Most people call them shakes, but Mack does it so fast, it’s more like a high-five.

4. Mack has never been the one to quit a game of fetch. Remember the old saying “how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?” Well, how many times will Mack fetch the ball, we may never know because he never stops. We get too tired and stop way before Mack is even winded.

It’s a rare occasion to see Mack without a ball in his mouth. He is always ready.

5. Mack loves to swim, but he is not a fan of the kiddie pool that we buy every year for the backyard. He is much more into the natural stream or lake. When Mack gets wet, you can see that he is really about ½ the dog you think he is. He is all hair. It’s funny to see him shrink before your eyes.

6. Somehow, and I can’t figure it out, he gets Daisy to keep watch on us while he sneaks under the fence and visits the neighbor. I secretly think that Daisy tries to get him caught because she knows he will have to go to his kennel and she will get to be by herself in the yard for a while.



If I could trust Mack not to pee on anything, he would be welcome to spend more time in the house with the family, but unfortunately he is all boy and pees on everything. Hence the “Bad Dog” I hear most the time.