BarkingProse

This is gonna be a short bark but I want everybody to know. Mom and dad were invited to dinner at the home of their friends. These are the people who have Frieda, the golden retriever.

They also have two young cats who don’t get to meet many dogs. So they invited Jack to come to dinner. His job was to show himself to the cats.

Jack was happy that he got to go in the car. He had no idea he had been invited to dinner. He’s still insecure because he never learned good house manners. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do.

But he was on a leash and he stayed real close to mom. The cats came out to see who was in the house. When they saw Jack they got kinda hissy with him. One ran away and the other puffed up like a big toad. Jack looked bewildered. He didn’t understand why they would act that way.

Jack is mellow and easy going these days. He knew the cats were worried about him. He acted all meek and turned away so they wouldn’t feel threatened. That was exactly the right thing to do. Pretty soon the cats came out and watched him for a while. He finally got bored being the center of attention and went and took a nap on Frieda’s bed.

Me and Tess were envious that he got to go, but we were really proud that he did so well. Our friends said he could come back anytime. When he got home he kept babbling about his trip. He said it was the best possible day. He went for a ride, got a bowl of grub and a bunch of treats. Best of all he got lots of praise. He’s feeling pretty good about himself right now. I can tell because he’s making silly sounds in his sleep. Way to go Jack!

I gotta get this bark out before I fall asleep. We had a dog party today and things got pretty wild. My pals River and Wind came and they brought River’s mother! Her name is Sima. My little Corgi pal Pippen came too.

We ran and played and barked and had a grand old time. Wind made a pass at Tess, River chewed mom’s hair and Jack minded his own business.

I’m not sure what happened next. Mom said the devil got ahold of me. I started acting goofy and wouldn’t shut up. I kept barking and barking and acting like I had no manners.

Everybody tried to get me to calm down, but I just felt out of sorts. Mom played long ball with me and gave me special attention, but it didn’t help.

Finally mom decided I was too tired or too excited or too something. She put my training collar on me and held me close to her on the leash. Somehow that made me feel better. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have to think about what to do. I could only stand close to mom and follow where she went.

Mom gave the leash to dad and told him to be real gentle with me because I was having a hard time. It was nice. Nobody got mad at me. They were just worried because I was acting strange. As soon as everybody left I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until it was time to post my bark.

I feel better now. Everyone was kind to me even though I was a jerk. I’m sorry for my bad behavior. I guess we all have bad days. Maybe the next time you see somebody having a bad day you can cut them some slack. Maybe they don’t mean to be that way. Maybe they just got a little crazy and can’t help themselves.

I’m gonna take a long nap. I’m gonna ask my mom to rub my toes and tell me how much she loves me. I’m gonna fall asleep with my head on her shoulder. I’m gonna dream about playing with my friends. Gotta go now.

It’s that time of year when we all have to give mom our poop. She collects it in little jars and puts our name on the jar. She makes it sound real fancy by saying she’s collecting a fecal sample. We all know it’s just a jar of poop.

She takes our poop to Dr. Brad to see if we have any hitchhikers in our bellies. Two years ago Codie and I got sick with giardia. We went to the emergency vet and both got IV fluids. Codie had to stay overnight because she was real weak.

Tess and I have been clean for the last year but this year Jack has little one cell critters swimming in his gut. Dr. Brad said Jack has coccidia. We didn’t know because Jack seems just fine and doesn’t have any symptoms.

Since Jack has a dry eye condition he can’t take the usual medicine to kill the coccidia. Dr. Brad knew of some medicine that will kill the bugs but not hurt Jack’s eyes. He had to order it from a compounding pharmacy in Arizona. I don’t remember the name but we’ll get it next week so I can bark about it then.

Here’s the funny thing. Dr. Brad told mom that Jack had caecal worms in his gut. They come from chickens and it proves that Jack has a taste for chicken poop. Dr. Brad said it’s no big deal for Jack because the worms don’t live in dogs, but it means our chickens have worms.

In case you haven’t guessed, this means lots of work for mom and dad. The chickens have to be wormed, Jack has to be treated, then Jack has to poop in the bottle again. Finally Tess and I have to give mom another poop sample to prove we didn’t get anything from Jack. If everything works out right all the worms and one cell critters will be long gone. Fun, huh. Glad all I have to do is keep on pooping. Gotta run!