BarkingProse

Ash

Whew! It was a long week. My mom’s brother and his wife came for a visit. They live in the city back east and don’t get to see country life very often. They love dogs.  Good thing because I wouldn’t leave them alone.

I had to show them around the place and make sure they had a good time. I was so busy grabbing their socks and bringing them toys that I forgot to post the DailyBark. Sorry about that.

Mom warned them about me swiping laundry. Ha! I got plenty of laundry, shoes too. Tess and I put on a good show for them. We did our mouth game with Tess making all sorts of horrible sounds. That got Jack to doing his deaf dog bark. Pretty soon it was chaos as usual.

I could tell they had fun. They kept saying “No, no Asher!” That’s a sign they were paying attention to me. Tess curled up on the couch with the wife. Jack just kept wandering in and out wondering what to do with himself. I pestered my mom so bad she had to play long ball with me six times one day.

I was really sorry to see them leave, but I was getting kinda tired. It’s hard to be the entertainer. I slept most of yesterday. Didn’t play ball once. I know they’ll miss me. They will, won’t they? Gotta run.

The Young Asher

From the time I was a pup, I loved my toys. My birth mom made me a neat rope of tangled fabric. I dragged it around everywhere. I got to take it with me when my real mom came to get me.

When I was a little older some friends gave me this cool pink stuffie. It didn’t last long, but I sure enjoyed it.

There have been so many toys: hippos, hedgehogs, soft soccer balls, an elephant, fake sausages. I can’t even remember them all.

So when Tess came to live with us I could hardly believe she didn’t know how to play with a toy. I started working with her right away. I’d walk up to her and shove a stuffie in her face. I kept messin with her until she grabbed it. Tess hasn’t learned to love toys the way I do, but at least she’ll play with me if I bug her enough.

Poor Jack is hopeless. I even gave him my special fox to play with, but he just looked at it and turned away. Once when he was sleeping I put it by his head, but he didn’t even notice.

Jack and the Fox

I guess you gotta learn to play when you’re a pup. Your people have to give you toys and show some interest in you. Maybe Jack and Tess never had any toys when they were little. I think Jack is a lost cause as far as toys go, but I’m still workin on Tess. In fact, here she is now. Gotta run!