NorthwestJanuary 2, 2004

Everyone Has A Story

Editor's note: Tribune subscriber Delta Harris was first to respond to David Johnson's solicitation for "pickers" in last week's column. She was one of about a dozen readers who responded. The Frazier family was first on Delta's list, and Ashley answered the phone.

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MOSCOW -- The guest list for Ashley Frazier's big sleep-over birthday party tonight doesn't include Lilly.

But 3-year-old trickster dogs have a way of becoming the center of attention -- especially when a reward is at hand.

"Want to go get treats?" Ashley asks excitedly as Lilly, a shitzu-Maltese cross, scampers into the kitchen. Ashley grabs some doggie biscuits and returns to the living room to go through her repertoire.

"Sit."

Lilly sits.

"Sit up."

Lilly sits up.

"High five."

Lilly slaps some paw.

"Good dog!"

Lilly snarfs a treat.

"Catch."

Lilly snarfs another treat.

"Catch another one."

Gulp! And then Lilly, propped in her best begging position, holds deathly still as she balances a tiny biscuit on the bridge of her little nose, crosses her eyes to make sure the morsel doesn't move and anticipates the command.

"OK!"

Snarf. Lots of tail wagging, panting and all the other animation that goes with being a party animal in her element.

"That's a good dog."

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So just who could really upstage a girl like Lilly enough to receive an invitation to go swimming, eat pizza, watch a movie and talk into the night at Ashley's 11th birthday bash?

"Well, there's Catlin, Maddie, Kayles, Jenny," says Ashley, using her fingers to conduct the inventory. "Jessica, Ashley B., Kayla, Sarah and Lauren."

And what about Lilly?

"She's going to stay in the garage. She gets nervous around too many people."

Ashley, the daughter of Lyndon and Lorrie Frazier of Moscow and little sister to Caramine, 20, and Donavon, 16, says Lilly is really a family dog. But Lilly, given her doggie druthers, appears, while nestled in Ashley's lap on the couch, to have a favorite amid the clan.

"She was the only female (in the litter) and I'm the one who named her," Ashley says of bringing Lilly home when she was just a pup. Already, it seems, Lilly has helped Ashley set her sights on a career.

"I want to be a vet."

Lilly wiggles at the excitement in Ashley's words. "I love animals. I want to take care of them."

Truth be known, Dad usually feeds Lilly. And he taught her some of the more demanding tricks, like rolling over.

And yes, sometimes Lilly has been known to have an accident in the house. But that's usually because no one has heeded her whining at the door.

On one occasion, Ashley confides, Lilly was accidentally locked in a downstairs closet. That's when Ashley realized how much she loves her dog. "We searched the whole house and the neighborhood. I was standing out there crying."

About an hour later, Ashley got an inkling, went back inside, ran down the steps and opened the closet door to find Lilly.

"She was just sitting in there."

For Christmas, Lilly got some dog bones and a squeaky toy. "She likes to just play when I throw her toys around." Lilly usually chews the squeak out of such toys.

Now and then, and perhaps at the party tonight, Ashley dresses Lilly up in doll clothes. "I have some ear things she wears," explains Ashley, gathering Lilly's lengthy lobes into a perked position. "She likes hair things." Lilly also has been known to like grapes, elk jerky and chocolate.

She sounds, in fact, to be a seasoned party animal who, if given the chance, would undoubtedly become the life of Ashley's party tonight.

"Good dog!"

Then again, says Ashley, "she really likes it in the garage."

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Johnson may be contacted at deveryone@potlatch.com

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