BarkingProse

The big man is going home today. He’s been in our pack for a month. Even Jack is gonna miss him. Me too. When he first showed up Jack freaked out. He thought Sherm was here to take his place. But Sherm was just visiting.

It’s tough to be without your people for a whole month. There were times when Sherm was lonesome. I could tell from the look in his eyes. Other times he had fun playing with us. Sherm and me played hide and seek. He played bump and run with Tess. Lots of times he dribbled his tennis ball by himself.

When Sherm first got here he didn’t like waking up at 5am. One morning after a dog party he wouldn’t get up – not even to eat his breakfast. But now he’s used to the 5am start time. I wonder how his people like waking up that early???

Sherm brought some cool stuffies with him. Mom told his people I might destroy them. MIGHT? I ripped up the turtle the first week. I showed Sherm how to do it and he finished it off. There are two stuffies left – the polar bear and the hedgehog. I think I’ll hide one so it stays here when Sherm goes home.

Once you’ve let somebody in your pack, it’s like you’re friends forever. Sherm can come back anytime. He’s always welcome. See ya, buddy!

Remember Julia? She hurt her foot when she was at our dog party a couple of weeks ago. She got her cast off this week and she’s hardly limping. This is an old picture her mom took when she was smiling. I’m using it cause we’re all smiling with her now.

It was really hard to see her hurting. We all wanted to make her feel better, but we had to stay outside so we didn’t step on her and make things worse. Jack really hopes she’ll come back to see him.

Julia is lucky. Not only was she rescued by really neat people, but she has the best dog pal. His name is King. He and Julia play a lot together. While Julia was mending, King stuck by her to cheer her up. Here’s another picture Julia’s mom took. See what I mean? There’s King sleeping right next to Julia.

It’s kinda hard to know how to look out for us barkers. We need to run and have fun, but if we’re not careful or we land wrong, we can get hurt bad. Once I jumped over our fence and landed on my brother Abel. Whew! That knocked me cuckoo.

Seems like life is full of risks. You never know how things are gonna turn out. Mom took a risk when she chose me. I coulda been a real pest. HaHa. I am a real pest. See what I mean?

Come back soon Julia. We’re real glad you feel better.

When the weather started getting warm, I asked Jack if he liked ice cream. “What’s ice cream?” he said. The poor guy never tasted ice cream before. I ran and told mom. She got a spoonful of vanilla ice cream and put it in Jack’s mouth. I thought he was gonna cry.

His eyes got real big and he started slurping, then he ran his tongue out as far as it would go. He licked his lips forever and his eyes begged for more. Mom went to the store and got us Frosty Paws. It’s perfect cause it’s for dogs and there are four cups in each box – just right for me, Tess, Jack and Sherm.

Next thing we all had to sit in a circle. Mom knew Tess and I could handle the ice cream by ourselves, but Jack and Sherm needed some help. So mom held the cup for Jack and dad held it for Sherm. Tess and I took our cups out in the grass and held them with our paws. It was real quiet for about five minutes while we licked our cups dry.

I remember the first time I tasted ice cream. I still had my baby teeth. I thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world, and still do.

My mom knows a man who grew up on a farm. He is 94 years old. She asked him what his family fed their dogs when he was a kid. He said the dogs ate leftovers, and on a hot summer day everybody got ice cream, including the dogs. Pretty neat, huh? Gotta run. That fool neighbor dog is way too close to our fence.