Guess where I have been? My Mom decided to go on a little trip, so I had to go to the Pet Lodge. Yes, the name does make you think of rustic cabins with large comfy beds and roaring fires, but all dogs know the Pet Lodges of the world are kennels. Most are clean places with nice people, but dogs never show up on their own and check in for a holiday. We would much rather stay at home. Take me, for instance. One, there was no one to watch my yard while I was gone. Two, they always put me in a cage at the Lodge like they think I am a lion or something. (OK, I know they keep all the other dogs in cages, too, but I can understand that because a bigger bunch of knuckleheads I never saw.) If they would have let me out to roam, I could have helped with security and brought some sorely needed order into their operation. One poodle, in particular, needed a sharp lesson, but back to the point. I am somewhat bitter about the fact that Dad didn’t have to go to a Lodge, too, now how is that fair? And Mom should have taken me with her. I told her so, but she said I wouldn’t fit in her suitcase….and she calls ME silly. I would have fit just fine!
Even when I first came to live with Mom and Dad, I wanted to be with them as much as I could. Luckily, they weren’t the kind of people who just got a dog and stuck it out in the yard because I would have been miserable. That part was good. But I wasn’t sure what the rules were in the early days and they didn’t always understand about me. For example, Mom didn’t like it when I grabbed a ball out of her hands, so she would hold the ball up high. I thought she wanted me to jump for it, but when I did, she would fuss at me and I would be confused. Also, they didn’t understand about me, how young I was and how much exercise and attention I needed not to be a psycho-dog. And I learned some things, too! I learned that Dad didn’t much like it when I chewed on his toe and Mom was not crazy about me dropping my ball in the water bowl and then picking it up and slopping water all over the floor. So, we got our wires crossed sometimes, but we managed to figure it out.
I use to get nervous inside when Mom took me someplace and left me there for a while. I would think that maybe Mom and Dad were turning me back in because they didn’t like me anymore and I would be very sad. I knew that Mom still missed the dog that went to heaven. I smelled some dog toys down in the basement one day, but when I tried to pry the lid off the tub, Mom said “No, those are Max’s things.” I also heard her cry every once in a while at night and whisper “Maxie,” just that one word over and over again. And though I tried very hard to be good, I would forget from time to time and do things on the No-No list like chewing up her laundry basket and taking bites out of a pillow when I got mad. I was a little jealous and thought “Maybe she won’t ever love me like she loves him.” But now I know better. I am pretty sure now that she would never go off and leave me. I think she still loves me even when I am bad. And if something ever happened to me one day, I think she and Dad would cry for me, too, and whisper “Newlie.”
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