Modine the Great

The first dog Alice and I had after we got married was when our first child, John, was 3 years old. My wife and John went to a bad section of town to see the dog. The ad in the local paper had said 'part basset.' When they arrived at the owners trailer, they saw a medium size dog---that was about, let's say, 20 percent basset at best. No, it wasn't a classy looking dog, but both Alice and John immediately wanted the dog. They put the dog in the back seat with John and the dog rode to our home with her head in John's lap. And what to name her. Modine, Alice's kind of wrong side of the tracks hairdresser.

Modine(Mody) stayed in the house all day, but at night she slept in our garage. She had a good bed, right next to a hot water heater. Everything went great for awhile, until we noticed the door to our kitchen was being badly scratched by Mody. Most night she was very contented; but some nights she was nervous and wanted in. She was afraid of thunder we found out, and so she spent the rest of her years IN the house. She was a great house dog. Always going outside for her 'business,' and always kind and gentle. She loved the classical music I played on my stereo, lying in front of one of the speakers every time I started a record.Her preference was Vienesse music.

Probably our greatest memory of Mody was the Craig White "incident." Young (5) master White lived about 3 doors up from our house, and was a regular playmate of John and our first daughter, Meg.  Craig was a nice enough kid, but was deathly afraid of Mody. His family had no pets. His mother told Alice that, of course, Craig was afraid of a large dog like Mody??? About 50 pounds at the most!! When Craig came down to play, he would knock at the door and timidly say,"Is Mody in." Meaning, is mody in the house and will she stay there.Mody loved to be in the yard with the kids, and they loved playing with her. But Alice, as the good neighbor, would keep Mody inside until Craig went home.\

 But one day when the kids were playing in our front yard, and Mody was having lunch, Craig knocked on the door. "Is Mody in" he asked.Meaning can she not come out. Alice knew Mody could hurt no one. So Alice said, "Go get him Mody." And like a streak Mody ran as fast as she could with her heavy body. On her own , she pushed over the front screen, and chased Master Craig home, barking all the way, as Craig screamed as if attacked by a lion!!!

When Mody returned, Alice congradulated her, and Alice insists Mody had a smile on her face.