BarkingProse

My brother Zag is coming today. That makes me happy. Zag and Tess got into it the last time Zag was here. That makes me sad.

Me and Zag are going to the beach. That makes me really happy. Jack won’t have mom for two days. That makes him awful sad. I feel bad because I know how much Jack will miss her.

Dad will have to manage the house by himself. Mom says it’s a good thing he won’t have to worry about me. She calls me a handful.

But Tess is a handful too. Tess will have to share the truck with Jack. She’ll make Jack sit in the back. Tess will hog the couch and try to keep Jack away from dad. Jack will just let her have her way. He’ll be missing mom and wondering if she’ll come home.

This will be the first time since we got Jack that mom has left him. She wishes she could take him with us but it would be too many dogs and this is my special time with my brother.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our pack. Jack wants me to go and have a good time at the beach even though he’s already feeling scared. I can’t wait to go to the beach but I’m worried about Jack. I won’t be here to tell him it’s okay and mom always comes back.

I’d call him from the beach but he’s deaf and he can only hear with his heart. So dad says he’s gonna give Jack lots of attention. I’ll bet Jack gets extra treats and rides in the truck. He may even get to sit in the front seat once or twice. I hope so. Gotta run!

Me and Tess were talking this morning about how much trouble we give our mom. It’s really not right because mom loves us a whole bunch and is always doing nice stuff for us.

But this last week we’ve been nothing but brats. I’ve started barking at mom real loud whenever I want her attention. If she’s been on the computer too long and I want to play ball, I walk up to her and bark as loud as I can right in her face.

I bark at her when I want my breakfast, when I want to play ball, when I want her to get up and pay attention to me, and most of all when it’s five minutes past our dinner time.

I’ve always jammed my stuffies up her backside. That usually startles her so much that she starts laughing. Even though she tells me not to do it, I know it makes her happy.

Tess was the worst of all this week. The vet came to see the goats. While the gate was open Zoey, the neighbor dog, snuck in. Mom was trying to close the gate and get Zoey out at the same time. Tess took that opportunity to bolt on an adventure.

When Tess ran through the gate as it was closing, it triggered the gate to stay open. So mom had to let Tess go while she got me and Jack in dad’s truck. Tess won’t come when she’s bolted. You have to take the truck and chase her down. By the time mom got the keys to the truck Tess was out of sight.

Me and Jack were having a fine time. Mom was driving like a maniac down the gravel road hoping to find Tess before she got lost. The windows were open, the dust was flying, we had our heads out the window hoping the ride would go on forever.

When mom got to a split in the road she figured Tess would head towards the neighbor’s goats. Yup, there she was giving the goats the stink eye. Good thing we got there just in time because Tess was about to crawl through the fence and give those goats a taste of border collie.

Tess is so funny. As soon as she sees the truck she forgets everything and runs to the truck. Mom opened the door and Tess jumped right in. We were all still pretty excited, hanging out the windows, barking at the goats, drooling on mom. She said  she couldn’t see where she was going. I don’t know why. There’s plenty of room for two of us on the dashboard.

Mom was pretty tired when we got home. She couldn’t scold Tess because she always wants Tess to come to the truck. She didn’t scold me and Jack while she was driving because she was too worried about finding Tess. After the vet left mom asked dad how come us dogs gang up on her. She said if anybody’s keeping score, the dogs won. Don’t we always? Gotta run!