BarkingProse

If I could stop time I would have done it yesterday. It was the most perfect day a dog and person ever had.

We got up early because you can’t eat breakfast until you get up.

As soon as we stepped outside I could feel the magic. A little sliver of a moon was bright enough to make shadows in the dark. The stars were right in our faces. Owls were hooting and I could hear coyotes arguing in the distance.

Instead of feeding us right away, mom let us walk around in the front yard. Usually I have to stay on a leash when it’s real early because I like to bark at the neighbor dog. But Zoey wasn’t out yet, so I got to run free without getting in trouble for my loud mouth.

Soon dad got up, the day got nice and warm, and our whole pack hung together outside like it was summer again. Mom played long ball with me until I got tired. She opened the back of the car and let Jack inside. He fell asleep in the sun. Tess followed dad around like she was his bodyguard.

In the afternoon the vet came to see the goats. Tess had to watch from inside because she went nuts. Jack couldn’t go into the goat ravine because he eats chicken poop and it gives him bad breath. I got to watch from the other side of the fence.

After the vet left us house dogs had our dinner. Mom made extra special grub for our slop bucket and we gobbled it up. We took another walk in the front yard, and this time I got to tell Zoey what for.

When it got cooler we went inside. Mom gave each of us a massage and cut some hair balls off me and Tess. Jack fell asleep on the couch while Tess and I watched the news.

Around bedtime we took another walk outside. The day ended just like it started. The little moon was back, the stars were out. The owl wasn’t up for talking yet but I could hear the coyotes yipping about something.

Mom put Jack to bed and told him how much she loves him. Tess grabbed her favorite spot on the couch while I had one last fling with my blanket. Soon Jack was snoring, the people were tucked in for the night, and I settled down on my mat next to mom. How much better does it get? Perfect!

It rained all day yesterday. I was out of sorts and didn’t know what to do with myself. My Labrador pals went home so it was just us house dogs.

I was tired and bored. Mom doesn’t like to play ball in the rain because the ball gets real heavy, and she worries when I slip on the wet grass. Every time I tried to bark her into playing ball with me she said no.

Mom was starting to feel sorry for me when she got the idea to read to me and Jack. She took us out to the studio where she likes to write.

Mom had this book she’d been wanting to read for a long time. She thought me and Jack would like it since it’s told by a dog. It’s called “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and some guy named Garth Stein gets credit for being the author.

The narrator is a dog named Enzo. He thinks he’ll come back as a person in his next life. Mom said maybe he had it backwards. Maybe people come back as a dog if they’ve tried real hard in this life. Anyway, it was a fun story. I loved hearing about Enzo and his adventures.

Jack tried his best to stay awake while mom read to us, but the sound of her voice put him right to sleep. Mom didn’t mind. She said Jack enjoyed being with us and that’s all that mattered.

When mom finished reading we talked about Enzo and what happens after this life. She said it’s real hard on people who love their dogs because dogs don’t live as long as humans.

Mom said she still misses Codie something awful and even though Jess has been gone for nearly twenty years, she misses him too. Then she started looking at me real serious. I knew what she was thinking; one day I wouldn’t be here with her and she’d be missing me.

Some people say they’ll never get another dog because it hurts too much when their dog leaves them. Mom says the more you love someone the more you miss them when they’re gone.

I could tell I had to do something to get mom laughing again, so I jumped up on her lap and started washing her face. That didn’t quite do it, so I grabbed her book and ran off.

I ran out the door into the rain and suddenly I felt like Enzo. I was racing in the rain and mom was chasing me. We were wet and laughing and having the best old time. I finally let her catch me and I gave her back the book. She hugged me and called me Enzo. I barked in her face so she could feel my dog spit. We both knew – sometimes life just doesn’t get any better.

The day got off to it’s usual start, but mom was cranky and impatient with us. Each one of us had awakened her during the night for some frivolous reason.

Tess came in around 2am to say hi. Around 4am I poked my nose in her face to see if she wanted to play.

Our house guests, the three Labradors, assumed it was time to get up and started prancing around like they had to go pee real bad.

Mom reluctantly got out of her warm bed and let us outside. Is there a full moon? There must be some explanation for our bad behavior. I just don’t know what got into us.

Libby and I started playing rough even before breakfast was served. Mom feeds the house guests first, but she has to separate the packs before she fills the bowls. The labs were outside watching the preparations. That got Pepper so excited she began to howl. Libby chimed in just to keep her company and Maggi ran around in circles, knocking over the lawn furniture.

Once the guests were fed we got our normal rations. Us house dogs are pretty good about not pushing and shoving when the food is being served. We each have our own corner to eat in. I go first, Tess next. She pirouettes around and then plants a big sloppy kiss on mom. Jack just sits there and looks goofy.

Once we’ve eaten the packs get reunited and usually we go sniff in the yard or let our meal settle. Not this morning. Jack started barking at mom – he wanted to go for a ride. I said since when do we go for a ride at 5am??? Libby barks whenever anybody else does, so she started mouthing off. Pretty soon all six of us were barking.

Mom wasn’t real happy about that. She looks forward to some quiet time after our breakfast when she can sip her coffee and edit our barks. Not this morning. Things were so wild she finally put Jack in the car to shut him up. The labs got time out in the studio, and me and Tess stretched out on the couch for a snooze.

Mom had to take the car out or Jack would have felt cheated, so she drove down the driveway to pick up the newspaper. Jack doesn’t care how short the ride is, he just wants to go. When they got back all us dogs were napping. That made mom extra cranky to see us dreaming when we wouldn’t let her sleep.

Sometimes I kinda feel sorry for mom. She works really hard to take care of us and we don’t always return the favor. Us house dogs are usually pretty nice to her but when our friends come over we forget our manners. It’s okay. We know she loves us anyway, even if she’s feeling sleepless.

Gotta go grab a nap so we can get up early again tomorrow. See ya!