Me and Dewey and THAT RED DOG #13 -
"Dog Holes 2007 Part Two
(or Red Can Stay)
October 2007

But look at this dirt! . . .    

Do you see any trees or bushes that could get cold in the winter?  No!  Mom put dirt in our bark-at-the-cars-and-kick-dirt hole.I  sn't that silly?  Does she think that not having the hole will make us bark any less at cars?  And those motorcycles are really necessary to bark at.  Keeping Mom and all the pack safe is VERY hard work.  Now we have to dig that hole all over again.

THAT OLD DOG DEWEY is silly, too.  He keeps trying to protect that garden from rabbits, even when cold killed all the vegetables.  He doesn't want rabbits to get the nice grass he likes to eat that is still growing.

Me and Dewey and THAT RED DOG #14 - "Being Pack"
November 2007

Mom Wises Up!

Mom finally got it right!

PACK IS TOP!

I’ve been tellin’ Mom for years and years (since I joined the pack in 2002) that pack is MOST IMPORTANT.  I didn’t have a pack for months before I met Mom, and what I had before that wasn’t really a pack.

The dog-jail man found me wandering around the town, eating people’s garbage for them.  They didn’t want it, so I knew I could eat it.  But some got upset, ‘cause I wasn’t very neat and didn’t eat everything that was in the garbage bag.  I don’t know why people expected me to eat their electric bills, they didn’t taste good – I tried a couple when I was really hungry.  But there usually was some well-aged goodies in the bag anyways – just had to sort out the other stuff.

I got put in dog-jail, but the shelter people came and took me to their place.  I stayed a month and no one wanted me to be in their pack.  That was partly my fault, ‘cause I couldn’t trust people.  I didn’t want a people-pack.

I had a people-pack that I ran away from.  Well, not really, the person pushed me out of the car ‘cause I wouldn’t be mean.  The person wanted a mean-dog, to bark lots and keep the not-the-pack out of the yard.  The person pulled on my collar lots and so I have to be careful with my throat.  Mom knows this and NEVER pulls on my collar.

She doesn’t pull on Red’s collar either when he doesn’t want to go outside to g’shtg’p.  He is scared of wind and is glad to be an inside dog.  ‘Cept sometimes he is too inside and needs to go outside.  That why he wears that green harness-thing.  It is his “go outside and g’shtg’p now” handle.  Mom bought it for me so she wouldn’t pull on my throat, but| I don’t need it anymore, ‘cause I AM A GOOD DOG.

Mom doesn’t pull on THAT OLD DOG DEWEY’s collar either, ‘cause he had whiplash once and he is AN OLD DOG.

Anyway, the shelter place was almost like the dog-jail, but there were people there who tried to get me to trust them.  I didn’t.  I played with some of the dogs though – but only those who KNEW that I was the BOSS DOG.

Mom came, looking for a dog for Dewey.  That’s why Red is MY DOG.  I am no longer Dewey’s dog, though.   I am my OWN DOG.  Mom picked two dogs for Dewey to choose from, but Dewey was too busy smelling dog g’shtg’p to pay a lot of attention.  The other dog wasn’t interested either.  He didn’t like Dewey – just Mom.  And since Mom was looking for Dewey’s dog, he lost.

I wanted to play.  And I made Dewey play in spite of all the interesting smells.  So Mom put Dewey in the car.  The shelter people said that when they saw Mom take out a step stool so Dewey could get in the car, they decided she would be a good Mom for me. 

Since I was Dewey’s dog, I was also Mom’s dog.  That’s what being pack is.  When Mom first got Red, she told me that he was my dog – but I knew that he was Mom’s dog, too.  I was jealous, but not as jealous as THAT OLD DOG DEWEY was when he realized I was going to stay.  He wouldn’t play with me for two weeks.  Then he played lots and got younger and didn’t need the step stool to get in the car.

Being pack is very important.  If you are living by eating out of people’s garbage cans, you can’t go to sleep and feel safe.  Mom gets to sleep and feel safe, ‘cause me and Red take turns staying awake.  Which means we also take turns sleeping.  When Mom gets up at night, one of us is always there to make sure everything is okay.  Dewey sleeps – but he stayed awake lots of nights and it is Red’s turn.  Dewey has been pack with Mom for thirteen years.

Red likes to stay awake, ‘cause it means he is pack and gets to be an inside-dog.  He is also the downstairs dog.  When he came, I told him so and he thought it was a good idea.  I protect upstairs and Red protects downstairs.  I get Mom's bed at night and he gets Mom's bed in the morning.  He likes getting food and water-supper and cookies.  He likes petting and playing.  I have taught all sorts of good things.  That’s why I am boss.

Anyway, Mom said in her Pastor’s Letter that being pack is important for people.  And that that is what Thanksgiving is about.  Saying thanks for pack and all those things that come with being pack.  Sleeping when Red is guarding, playing, getting cookies, chasing squirrels.  All these are good, but being pack is the best.

Even though THAT OLD DOG DEWEY is old, I am still his dog.  But I am BOSS!

Spirit P.