BarkingProse

This is not an illusion. This is me and my brother Zag. Every year since Zag was born our moms make us pose for this silly picture. At first it was real easy to tell us apart by our markings. But now that we’re older we look more and more alike.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my brother Zag. Not only does he look like me, he thinks like me. He’s crazy nuts about my mom too. If anything ever happened to Zag’s mom, he’d come live with us.

We weren’t raised together so it’s kinda funny that we have so many of the same habits. We know exactly how to play the growly mouth game. We LOVE the ball. We’re both scared of sudden noises. We love cats. We’re good pals and never fight.

I like having a brother who likes me. There were about twelve of us in the two litters, one year apart. The only brother I’m close to is Zag. We were the only blue dogs in each litter. It’s almost like we’re twins born a year apart. Zag was born on April Fool’s Day. That’s why I call him the little fool.

Me, I was born on February 12th. Not much significant about that day in history except for my mom. She says it’s the day that changed her life, only she didn’t know it for another two months until she took me home.

I got a couple more pictures of me and Zag doing our guy stuff on the beach. You can tell we were having a fun time. This is my last bark about the beach trip. Next year we’re gonna do it again. Gotta run!

Have you ever played beach rugby? It’s a really fun game. Me and my brother Zag played yesterday until we were so tired we couldn’t run anymore.

Here’s me after a nasty scrum. I went low for a ball and plowed the sand with my nose. I’m just catchin’ a breather before we went at it again.

You know what’s neat? Some mom’s don’t let their dogs play in the muck and get as dirty as me and Zag. My mom did say something like “oh no!” when she saw me, but she was laughing so hard I knew she didn’t mean it.

My brother Zag got dirty too, but his fur sheds the sand faster. Oh my gosh, I had the very best time ever at the beach. The moms hit the ball until their shoulders ached. I kinda felt sorry that they were hurting, but I didn’t want them to stop.

It was fun being the center of attention. They kept throwing us the ball and taking our pictures. Sometimes they would shout “yes!” when I jumped really high. My mom calls me “Ashman” when I’ve performed some amazing jump, and I know she’s real proud of me.

Here’s me and Zag going after the ball. I can out jump him, but he gives me a good shove once in a while. He’d make a great free safety.

Okay, maybe I’m bragging a little, but take a look at this next picture. Imagine the ‘hang time’ and tell me I’m not a hot dog! Yippee! I sure had a blast at the beach. Stay tuned. I got some more really good pictures. Gotta run!

It’s that special weekend when I go to the beach with my brother Zag. It’s always the first weekend in October. The weather is nice and it’s not crowded. We have soooooo much fun.

Here we are first thing in the morning. We’ve been playing ball in the surf for an hour. Zag got rolled over by a rogue wave. He didn’t like it. I saw it coming and just floated in, but Zag went tail over ears in the water.

We get so wet and full of sand. We know at the end of each day we have to be hosed off, but it’s worth it. Zag’s little brother Rhett came with us. He had a blast in the water.

Here he is running away from the waves. He’s not scared but he doesn’t like to get wet. His nose is pretty close to the ground, so the salt spray splashes in his face if he’s not careful. He wants to be one of the guys. It’s not easy being the little brother, so we try to cut him some slack.

Mom makes me and Zag pose for our portrait. She calls it driftwood art. She did the same thing last year with another piece of old rotten wood. You can decide for yourself if you think it’s art or not.

Mom’s busy wiping up sand. Me and Zag are tired but we don’t want to miss any time at the beach, so we’re pestering to get going again. The sky is real blue, the wind is blowing. We’ve seen deer and lots of geese. This is a really neat vacation for me and Zag. I’ll tell more later. Gotta run!