Elvis the Pelvis

This is our dog Elvis. He loves it here. He runs around with us, sleeps in the sun, explores the woods, rolls in raccoon poop and dead things whenever he can find them, and stinks something fierce. He is part Basset Hound and part Welsh Corgi.

Elvis is eight years old but acts much older. With new people here who are unacquainted with him he will hobble around decrepitly as if he is minutes from death. He actually limps and sort of drops his head so people will feel sorry for him. The unsuspecting victims will stop and pet him, rub his belly, and give him love - whereupon Elvis will leap up off the ground and tear away running as fast as he can go, which is much faster than you ever would suspect.

Two weeks ago Elvis was hit by a car. My husband and I were away from the park for a night and Joe was watching our kids and the dog for us. The kids went out to the bus stop in the morning, and unbeknowst to Joe, Elvis snuck out the back door and went out to the bus stop too. A couple minutes later our older son ran back into the house screaming, "Elvis is dead! Elvis is dead!" Too bad the irony of that completely escaped him.

Joe was sitting upstairs with one boot on. They ran back downstairs only to find Elvis standing in the front yard looking perfectly fine. Joe got the boys on the bus and then noticed that Elvis had a bloody nose and blood on his paw. As the minutes went by Elvis's left eye became bloodshot and began to twitch and roll up in his head. Joe called us and we came home and took Elvis to the vet. The vet pronounced him a very lucky dog and prescribed some anti-inflammatory painkillers. Within a few hours of taking the medication the swelling and blood in his eye subsided. A few days later it was like nothing had ever happened to him.

We found out from the boys that Elvis had been hit by a black SUV with tinted windows. The driver did not stop. When the car hit him, Elvis rolled over 3 or 4 times and just laid there like he was dead. While our older son was running to get Joe, our younger son went up to poor stunned Elvis and whispered, "Elvie! Get up!" And Elvis did.

So even though Elvis often smells worse than anything, we are glad to have him. His run-in with a speeding SUV resulted in little injury and added some credibility to his pathetic but very convincing please-pet-me act.