Irish name for a red-headed pup
When Pam Hoffman and her husband, Louis Tortorice, first saw the little red dog at the Maryland SPCA in 2013, he was cowering at the very back of the cage, curled in a fetal position. A note on the front read, “Fearful.”
But there was something about the mixed breed with the short hair and extravagantly fluffy tail that made the couple decide to try taking him for a walk.
“He perked up as soon as he got out of the kennel,” Pam Hoffman says. “Lou and I looked at each other and said, ‘OK.’ ”
They called the dog Murphy because an Irish name seemed perfect for a redheaded pup. When they arrived at their house in Mays Chapel, Murphy sniffed the kitchen and the dining room — and then ran upstairs and jumped into the couple’s bed. He was home. “He’s the funniest dog I’ve ever had,” Hoffman says. “And I’ve had a lot of dogs.”
When Murphy, now 10, is happy, he lies on his belly, spreads his four paws and starts wriggling in circles. Hoffman and Tortorice call this move “the compass.” Other times, he’ll scoot down on his stomach and pull himself along by his front paws — a maneuver resembling a combat crawl.
Pet people
But he does his best trick when the phone rings.
“Murphy sings,” Hoffman says, and then mimics a canine moan that rises and falls in a kind of melody. She adds: “After a while, he will give these little mini-barks, but he barks in tune. It’s unbelievable.” baltimoresun.com/unleashed.