Camp Life

By Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

In response to Lady Jabberwocky’s Prompt of the Week: Letters from CAMP

The little girl from two campsites down ran up and asked if she could pet my dog. My sweet girl sat quietly beside me, until I told her she could go say hello. Upon being verbally released by my voice, my sweet girl slowly lifted her huge one hundred and twenty-five pound body off the ground and approached the visiting girl; who now stood stock still with her eyes wide and her mouth frozen in a silent “Oh.”

I explained that my girl was very gentle and loved to be scratched under her chin and behind her ears. When the little girl didn’t move, my sweet girl promptly laid down, rolled over and presented her tummy to the little visitor.

They became fast friends after that. Whenever the child came to visit, my sweet girl would lay down immediately, so her little girl friend could scratch her belly while sitting on the ground beside her.

It was on the third day the little girl asked what kind of dog my sweet girl was, because she’d never seen a dog so big before. I explained that she was a mix of a domesticated wolf and a domesticated dog. I used the word domesticated only in explanation to her that none of the animals involved came from the wild.

For four solid days the child came and spent hours sitting with, petting and playing with my sweet, gentle girl. On the fifth day, the child did not visit but, I could see their very large, brand-new RV was still parked in its camping spot.

Around mid-afternoon, however, I did have some visitors. Two police vehicles and one animal control truck rolled up in front of my camper, blocking my drive. My sweet girl and I were inside my camper, eating our lunches. The knock on my old steel camper door was none too light.

It was the animal control person who asked me to step out of my camper, which I did. She asked me if I was housing a wolf in my camper, to which I answered truthfully, no. Then she said they had a report of a dangerous animal being kept on my premises illegally.

I calmly explained that I owned a very gentle female five year old wolfdog, whom I had owned since she was five weeks old. I also explained that I lived in my camper 24/7 with my sweet girl and the campground and surrounding camp residents knew about and loved her.

I was asked to show them documentation of her vaccinations, and any licenses I carried. I allowed them to look over all of my sweet girls legal documents. When they finished scrutinizing those, I showed them her Canine Good Citizenship Award as well as her graduation papers for completing puppy and then advanced obedience training.

By this time the two policemen had gotten out of their cars and were petting and playing gently with my sweet girl. An hour later the legal entourage departed satisfied and all smiles.

Two hours after that, I had packed up my RV, disconnected all my hook-up’s, filled my propane and gas tank, emptied our waste tanks and my sweet girl and I were on the road, again.

Prologue: Adding a picture of my “little” girl upon request.