BarkingProse

That’s my big tooth, in case you’re wondering. Tess asked me to bark about how we keep our teeth clean, so here goes. When Tess arrived her teeth were a mess. She must have been eating some kind of slop because she had yucky yellow scum all over her teeth.

Mom took Tess to our vet, Dr. Brad Evergreen. He said if Tess didn’t get the gunk off her teeth soon she would have to have her teeth cleaned. Dr. Brad tries to fix things naturally instead of jumping straight to pills or shots. So he suggested Tess eat some raw frozen turkey necks to clean her teeth.

Turns out turkey necks are not easy to find in grocery stores. Mom found some in pet stores, but they were real expensive. One day she asked the local grocery store if she could order some turkey necks.

Good thing for us dogs. They come in one big thirty pound pile all frozen together and cost less than $1 a pound. Mom spent an hour separating them and putting them in smaller bags and now we have enough for a few months.

Tess got her frozen turkey neck first. She got this wild look in her eye and ran off to the corner of the yard to eat her prize. It took her about five minutes. When Tess was finished, mom looked at her teeth and started laughing with joy. All the yellow scum was gone and Tess had beautiful white shiny teeth even in the back of her mouth.

I got my first neck that same day. My teeth were never scummy like Tess, but they could use a little scrubbing once in a while. Oh man, I loved that frozen turkey neck. I didn’t get a wild look but I grabbed it with both my paws and ate it like a popsicle. It was like the best dessert I ever had.

When Jack joined our pack his teeth were a horrible mess. Some are broken, some missing and the rest were a nasty looking shade of brown. The day he got his first turkey neck he didn’t know what to do with it. He tried to give it back to mom. She laughed and sat down with Jack on the floor. She held it for him until he understood it was really his. Then with his funny crooked mouth he smiled and chewed until it was all gone. Even his teeth got white!

So that’s how we keep our teeth clean and bright in our pack. Thanks Dr. Brad!

See me? See me in the box? See the ball? If you wonder how this happened, it’s a long story. I barked about the garden outside our kitchen a couple of months ago. There’s been this disagreement between mom and us dogs over the proper use of that space.

When it’s hot me and my friends like to dig a nice hollow in the dirt and cool off. The earth is real nice because mom tries to have a garden there. She’s planted all sorts of stuff but it never grows very well.

Even with the flimsy little fences she puts up, the plants don’t stand a chance. Usually I jump over the fence and lie on the plants. Jack pees on them and one time Pepper pulled all the lettuce out so she could have more space.

This year mom got real serious about her garden and decided to put in some planter boxes. So the men in the family sawed and hammered and made these real pretty cedar planters. They’re not quite finished yet. They haven’t been filled with dirt, so it’s about two feet down to ground level.

When I kept pestering mom with my ball, she put it in the planter. Out of sight out of mind. Not quite. I jumped in to get my ball. She started laughing and said something about me always winning the garden wars. But anyway, you can see from the picture how easy it is to get out.

I can’t wait to see what happens next. Anyway, gotta run.

We have some guest dogs staying with us this weekend. They’re my good friends Pepper, Maggi and Libby. We’ve played together a lot.

That’s Libby who has me by the throat. Sometimes the play gets a little rough, but I don’t mind. Before Jack arrived I was the only boy dog. It was like I had my own harem when they stayed with us.

When we’re out running around, mom has to count on her fingers to make sure none of us has gone solo.

Mom thinks its fun to get a whole bunch of dogs together and have a party. I’ve noticed the people usually have a good time too. One time I went to the ocean with the Labradors. We met up with some other dogs and had a beach party. It was a blast.

Today we’re all just hanging out. We got mom up at 5am so we could start having fun. We’ve had breakfast and played hard. Now everybody’s taking a nap. Life is good. Gotta run.