Mojo was a beautiful mutt. His dad was what looked to be a full-blooded American Bulldog, and his mom seemed to be some sort of Australian Shepherd mix. Mojo had his dad’s build but his mom’s hair. His hair was soft and great for those who wanted to pet him. When taking him on walks, people would often ask if they could pet him. Mojo just had that sweet and pettable look to him. And he was sweet, but he also had his mother’s herding tendencies which we had to break him of because being nipped on the heal was not pleasant. He did stop nipping, but he never stopped tagging us with his wet nose when he would get close.
When he was only a few weeks old, he looked more like a cat from the back, especially the way he would curl up. He also had some other cat-like behaviors. Mojo liked to lean in and brush up against you as he would walk by, and often he would walk up and down the chain-link fence as he leaned into it doing the same thing. Also, you would have thought he was a mother cat the way he liked to clean the faces and ears of his best buddies, but his buddies didn’t seem to mind.
Mojo could run like a cheetah, and he was a beautiful sight to watch in-flight…..unless you were an opossum, in which case you quickly became a snack. The Moj liked to run on the bayou with his best buddies, Max, Vino, and Kona. When he was young, he could easily outrun Max and Vino. Kona came along later in his life, but he would still run with her until he was tired.
The beach seemed to be a favorite place for Mojo. He could run free there, and he enjoyed the water. He didn’t like to swim out as far as Max and Vino to get the frisbee, but he would wait until they were almost back to shore and then try to grab it from them after they had done the hard work.
Mojo did have a lazy streak at times. If you were out for a walk with him and he got tired, he would simply lay down and refuse to get up. And he would bark if something was going on, but he didn’t want to be the one to defend the yard. If the dogs heard something Max would run toward the noise barking, but Mojo would run towards the backdoor and body slam it trying to get in. He was a big baby like that. When Max got older, and couldn’t hear well, Mojo would hear stuff before Max could. Mojo, being the big baby that he was, didn’t want to do the defending. He would bark very softly but loud enough to get Max’s attention, then once Max was taking care of the threat, Mojo would run and body slam the door. It was hilarious to watch him alert Max quietly.
The Moj was pretty easy to train but could be stubborn at times. He wasn’t highly motivated by food either. If you gave him a treat he would take it and then go a few feet away and lay down and drop the treat, then pick it up and nibble on it or sit there holding it hanging out of his mouth. When he did this with hot dogs it looked like he was smoking a cigar because he would keep it hanging out of his mouth so long before eating it.
Mojo liked to ride in the back of the truck and catch wind. He also liked to ride in the cab of the vehicle, but he wanted to be front and center and help you drive when he was on the inside. When he first started taking truck rides in the bed of the truck, he didn’t understand shadows and would duck every time we would go under an overpass. Max would look at him like, “What are you doing?”
Mojo was an adorable dog and funny companion to have around. He will be missed.
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