Note From Poppy Puppy

By

Poppy Puppy

                My human, Maggie, and I rode for a very long time, which took us from the only home I knew with her. The rest of our dog family left us for new homes where they seem to be greatly loved. We eventually came to a place that has big storms every afternoon. There is thunder and lightning and I snuggle close to my human when that happens. She keeps me safe.

                In this new place, there are most wonderous things to see. It seems almost every human has a pup or two walking them all over the things called ‘sidewalks.’ They have trained their humans, as have I, to carry plastic bags in case we feel the urge to poop. Our humans patiently scoop up the waste in the bags and toss it in trash cans. Having so many dogs around overloads my senses with smells, as I try to translate all their messages.

There is a fascinating thing sitting within a gated area. Every dog seems to visit it at least once a day. My human calls it a fire plug. Why it lures each of us to leave a wet message on it, I do not know. Perhaps it has a magic of some sort?

                Yesterday, my human took me into a different part of our building (it has so many more rooms than our previous house and it seems each room holds more humans and dogs). She went in to see a nice man we have met often. He sits behind a desk like my human uses when she writes. I went to him for the expected petting before settling at my human’s feet. They talked a few moments and we left. Outside the door, sat a man who looked friendly enough. I walked over and as expected, he petted me. This led to trouble later, as humans seem to expect to pet me every time they see me, just because they did it once.

                Maggie and I decided to sit on the sofa in a large area to watch the news. A woman and her children arrived. The female child came at Maggie. I felt compelled to protect my human, thus I bared my teeth at the child. Maggie scolded me. That did nothing to stop me from protecting her. It is obvious she is too dumb to recognize danger when she sees it. The child fled to its parent human.

                Another human female, one I met before, walked up and reached to greet me. She received the same reprimand as the child and hastily pulled away. No sooner had she backed off than the man who petted me earlier strode over. Obviously, he thought our earlier meeting gave him privileges. It did not. I growled at him.

                “It’s okay, Pal. I know you are protecting your mom. It’s okay.”                                                                                                                                                 .

                Finally, someone understood I had a job to do! And nothing, not age, gender or previous meetings would keep me from performing that job! At that point, Maggie decided it the better part of valor to take me back to our unit, where I drank thirstily. Guarding her makes me yearn to quench my thirst, which is not always easy, depending on where we are. Usually, Maggie takes a bottle of water and a water dish along in case I get too warm.

                She laughs and says, ‘That’s what you get for wearing a fur coat all the time.” Really? I should be embarrassed if my hair came away as easily as the strange pelts humans wear. They are always replacing them, which seems a complete waste of time. Having my precious hair seems the much smarter of the two choices, don’t you think?

                Perhaps I shall understand how humans think one day. However, after having been around them ten years, I sometimes despair of figuring out their moods and actions. For now, a nap seems the better move on my part.