The idea of keeping a border collie/Australian cattle dog mix still is -- well, it's as likely as using a half-dozen sandbags to shut down Niagara Falls.
But, Rachael Brooks of Lewisville has been up to it. And because of her devotion to this dog, we are highlighting her precious Moxie in this weekend's "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap."
She was able to catch Moxie in the flat-out sleeping position next to the sofa. It was a rare shot. And that yellow thing, folks, is not a dog toy. It's a cast on Moxie's foreleg.
Rachael says her "usually active" 7-year-old dog "has been KO'd this summer with a broken leg."
She says that Moxie is a "very special dog. She was rescued six years ago from Grapevine animal control and survived heartworms and a variety of other illnesses related to neglect.
"She was very sick when I first brought her home, so I gave her a strong name, something that said, 'This dog's a fighter' so that she would get better. I believe there is something in a name."
Rachael might have named the dog "Extrahelpful" or "Whatthedoctordered."
"Moxie is a people dog," says Rachael, "So much so that she and I began volunteering together in our first year as a pet partner team for the Delta Society in nursing homes, the Denton State School, hospitals and prisons.
"Moxie loves being a therapy dog and we continued our work South of the Border in an orphanage for children with physical and mental disabilities.
"Moxie is responsible for my choice of career: social work. When she and I began volunteering together, I discovered that I had a passion for helping people. I was a student at the University of North Texas at the time and changed my major from English to Social work.
"Today I work for a non-profit organization called Future Without Poverty that works in global communities to reduce poverty and provide opportunity to marginalized communities.
"Moxie and I, natives of Texas, made the move to Mazamitla, Jalisco [Mexico], six months ago. We returned when Moxie was injured in June."
Moxie took a fall off a balcony, Rachael says.
"Keeping Moxie still, per the doctors orders, is no easy task. This is a dog on the go, used to going everywhere with me. In the six years I have been 
blessed to have her, we have seldom been separated for more than a few hours. She is my partner.
"She has something about her that reaches people where other people can't get in." (That's Moxie, after the cast was removed, getting some therapy work done in her personal "hydrapool.")
While the leg was healing, Rachael says, Moxie lived with "her Grandmama and Uncle James and four cats; Kobie, Mocha, Thurstan and Puzzles."
And probably not one time did Moxie think about trying to herd the cats.
(To nominate a sleeping critter for spotlighting in Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats nap, e-mail the photo and info to [email protected]. Remember, at Readlarrypowell.com, we adore sleeping critters and hope someday to learn how to be among them.)
