BarkingProse

Our friends came over for a visit. They really like me. Especially my pal Art. He usually plays ball with me and gives me treats.

But it was a rainy day, there was food and wine and the next thing I know Art wants to take a nap in the chair. The picture isn’t real clear, but if you look closely you will see his eyes are closed.

So how does that work? We’re supposed to be playing ball and he’s got his eyes closed? Not for long! I quietly dropped the ball between his legs. I heard people giggle. Art seemed to know everyone was staring at him. Without opening his eyes he reached down and tossed me the ball.

He shouldn’t have done that if he wanted to nap. Now I knew exactly where to put the ball. Oh, I had to be patient. Sometimes I think he really did fall asleep for a few moments. If I had to wait too long, I nudged the ball higher in the chair. Sure enough, he’d reach down and toss it to me. That got everyone to laughing and finally Art gave up on his nap.

This whole nap thing was a good lesson. If you’re patient and keep trying, you can usually get people to do what you want. I learned that as a pup. Just keep putting the ball in front of your pitcher and eventually the ball will fly. Think about it. Gotta run.

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.

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.

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!