Let's Act Like Dolly

In 2018, my husband Neil was out on our property working. He and our neighbor looked down and there was a dog under his truck. She hung out with them all day and basically refused to leave his side. She had a blue collar on with no tag and was very scared. 

As it got dark out, Neil didn’t want her outside alone all night as we live in the country and there’s no telling what would get her and just how frightened she would be. 

Neil brought her inside, and I”ll admit, I wasn’t very happy about it. She has short hair and surprisingly, she wasn’t very dirty. BUT… she was a stray dog that had been outside for God only knows how long. 

We also had 2 small inside dogs at the time, so that was an adjustment. Neil agreed to let her inside just for the night until we could find her owners. She was real sweet. Scared, but sweet. She ended up eating some food and I think she slept 14 hours that night. 

The next day we contacted the local vets and even posted her picture on social media. She had no chip, no tags, and nobody was claiming her. She stayed another 2 nights and of course, Neil fell in love. A few days later, our neighbor, who is in her 70’s, responded to the Facebook post and said “My Grandson brought me that dog so I could have some protection on the porch. I see you have brought into your home, so you can keep her."

I had conflicted emotions because this lady basically had intentions of putting this dog on her porch for her to be bait at some point. I am so glad she came over to our property and befriended Neil. 

Her name is Dolly and she is family now. 

On the 2nd day of Dolly being in our home, Neil decided to try and give her a bath. He took her to the backyard and was going to hose her down with the water hose. When I say she panicked, that is putting it mildly. She began running, flipping, and doing everything she could to get away from the water. It was unsuccessful to say the least. 

As time went on, Dolly became a great “ranch dog”. She never left our property. Dolly loved to roam around (only during the day) and explore. We noticed that, of course, her paws would get dirty, and even her body would be dirty, but she would sit on the porch outside and begin cleaning herself. 

She knew she couldn’t go in the house if she was dirty so Dolly, NOT wanting a bath, would clean herself like a cat. She cleans her paws until they are perfectly free of all dirt. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it. To this day, years later, Dolly has never had a bath. 

Feeding her a healthy diet keeps her coat shiny, but she does the rest. She knows if she goes out and gets dirty, it’s on her to clean up before she goes in the house and trust me when I say Dolly LOVES knowing she is now an inside dog. She is the cleanest dog I know. 

I watch her constantly cleaning herself. It’s her mission to care for her body and keep up her hygiene. A couple weeks ago, when I was having my coffee, Dolly was next to me…cleaning her legs. And it got my wheels turning and I began to think, “This is the mindset I want to help others adopt. The need to care for their health the way Dolly cares for her cleanliness”. Being clean isn’t an afterthought for Dolly. She doesn’t debate that day IF she wants to be clean or not. It’s her #1 priority in life. TAKE CARE OF DOLLY. 

What if we could adopt this mindset when it comes to our health? What if we put it FIRST? What if every time you ate a meal you thought, “Is this meal going to offer me nutrients to keep my healthy and strong”? 

There’s something to be said about Dolly’s habit of caring for her body. I strive to think more like Dolly and I hope you will think about caring for yourself and adopt a “Dolly” mindset.

What you eat directly affects your health. Continually eating overly processed (packaged) foods is going to eventually offer you some health issues.

I’d love to help you create more of a Dolly mindset around your eating habits.

Want more inspiration? Be sure to join my weekly Newsletter! Every Tuesday, I drop a little note to your email box encouraging you and offering helpful information about improving your habits with food. 

You can join here; www.shelleycanhelp.com/join (it’s free)

Let’s think more like Dolly and create habits that keep us healthy and strong!

I’m rooting for you,