BarkingProse

Wow, it’s been a while since I barked. I got kinda distracted and sort of messed up in the head. I’ve had barker’s block for over a week.

It started with yapping at the universe. One day I just couldn’t shut up. Then Codie’s rose appeared, but she didn’t put her thoughts in my head. I thought she was mad at me because of all my yapping, and I got all bummed out.

But then some neat stuff happened. When my bark went silent my friends stepped in and did some barks for me.

Jack took the lead, then Tess. Later a guest dog helped me out with a really neat bark. Her name is Sima and she is the mother of my pal River.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened. I went from being at the top of my game to a pretty sorry mutt. Everybody could have made fun of me or said mean things. But they didn’t do that. They really tried to help me.

Jack was the most worried. It bothered him that I lost my confidence. He kept telling mom to do something to make me better. Mom knew I had to sort things out on my own, but she gave me lots of extra love.

I told mom I want to go back to school. It’s September and the long summer days are over. It’s dark when we get up and dark before we go to bed. I feel like I need to learn some new stuff.

Mom says as soon as we get back from our trip to the beach she’ll put me in a class. I have to take a test to see if I’ve forgotten my first class. I hope I can be in the intermediate class. I want to earn some badges for good behavior. Mom says if I work really hard I can go to agility classes. Stay tuned. It’s gonna be a fun time. Gotta run!

Asher, I wanted to thank you and all your buddies for welcoming me into the party pack last week. It was great fun to wag and run. Like you, I love the chase and catch of the balls and sticks. I was mesmerized watching your gravity defying catches!  A real inspiration to me being the grounder I am.

A few years ago when I was but a pup, my mom tossed a ball into the air for me and like any good Sheltie would, I had to stop it before it hit the ground. Unfortunately, the ball and I both hit the ground and I broke my leg. I spent Christmas and some 7 weeks after in a cast. Thanks for letting me have most of the left field ground balls.

I’m so happy you have a good friend in my boy River. He has a strong honest heart and as well…comes from a long line of ball players and great barkers.

River loves to share his enthusiastic loud thoughts in his dad’s ear- especially important things need to be said in his ears when he is in the car. I love to speak too and in fact talked so much when I was young, my mom needed to quiet down my voice.  I was a soprano.. well, I am still a soprano, but a quieter one. I can sing and yapp at the universe as long as I please. Some things just need to be said. Never feel bad about that.

Your energy and enthusiasm are wonderful. I hear wonderful stories about my good friend Wind back in his younger days when he played ball with the best of them!  Wind has taken River under his paws to guide him on how to be a great mountain dog…now if I could just get my boy out of the river water! But that’s another story, another time.
Hope to see you again.
Your friend Sima aka  All You Need Is Love

Me and Tess are helping Ash out this week while he gets over his barker’s block. I got on Tess a little bit because she was supposed to finish her bark two days ago.

She finally posted her bark yesterday. I guess she was feeling kinda guilty because she barked a lot about her bad self. I’m not disagreeing that Tess has a bad self, but there’s a lot more to her.

See the picture of me and Tess. It was taken a few weeks after I came to Asherpark. I was still messed up in the head. I didn’t know whether they’d keep me, or if I would really be accepted into the pack.

Tess and I got into a few times over treats. Once she jumped me in the yard. I put her down and had her by the throat when I thought better of it and let her go.

This is my favorite picture of me and Tess. See her paw on mine? She was trying to tell me everything would be okay. She wasn’t mad at me about our food fights. That simple little gesture meant the world to me. I almost started to cry.

Over time Tess has become a really good friend. Once when a guest dog attacked me, Tess jumped in to protect me. We understand each other and like hanging out together.

Tess is a complicated girl. She can be devious and self centered. That’s her stink eye side. But she’s also sweet, gentle, loyal and brave. I love Tess. I hope she knows it.