Ash
You don’t have to be a genius to have noticed we were slacking on the barks. For a while the DailyBark became a weekly bark and then we didn’t even keep that up.
Mom called us all together for a staff meeting, just like she used to do when she was working. There was some serious stuff to discuss. I got real nervous when she asked if we really wanted to keep putting out the DailyBark. We all shouted “Yes!”
Then she asked us how come, if we wanted to keep barking, we were slacking. Mom said sometimes you think you want to do something, but if you don’t do it maybe you’re just fooling yourself. None of us had a good answer for her.
Next Mom asked us what we thought was keeping us from barking. Nellie started to cry. “It’s all my fault,” she said. “It’s because I’ve been sick and there’s so much work taking care of me and cleaning up after me.”
Boy, that’s for sure. Nellie has been fighting giardia for almost two months. She had to take a gut medicine followed by two rounds of antibiotics. She still gets Chinese herbs, fiber, and a bland diet. Poor mom had to wash all us mutts, all the dog bedding, clean the rugs and mop the floors with disinfectant. Then she sprayed the grass where Nellie poops with bleach water.
Tess always feels sorry for Nellie when Nellie cries, so she tried to take some of the blame. “No.” Tess said. “It’s because I got in that awful fight with a guest dog. I upset everybody so much nobody wanted to bark about anything.”
I had to admit Tess was partly right. Her bad self came out one day and there was one hell of a dog fight. Both Tess and the other mutt got hurt. The people were plenty unhappy. But that was a month ago and we were slacking before the fight.
Something good came out of the fight. Tess has to go to reform school. Our trainer Matt came out and started her on lessons. Tess has to mind mom and do her homework even if she doesn’t want to. Funny thing is Tess is liking her lessons.
Mom asked if we wanted to have a schedule of who barked when. Jack looked down and licked his paws. Being the strong silent type, he’d rather not bark about his feelings.
Tess swished her big red tail in my face and told mom not to count on her. Nellie said she’d be thrilled to have a bark schedule.
I told mom me and Nellie would handle the barks for the next few months. If we got tired or needed a break, mom would have to ask Tess and Jack to help.
Maybe it’s because me and Nellie are blue dogs. We see the world the same way. We both just want to hang with mom and enjoy life.
I can’t imagine life at Asherpark without the DailyBark. Neither can Nellie. So we’re on it. We got some catching up to do!