If you looked up the word ‘Cute’ in your dog-tionary, I wouldn’t be suh-prized if there was a pickshur of Bo Russo. Bo’s a Toy Australian shepherd with long shiny hair an colors sorta like a Shetland Sheepdog: mainly red, then brown an white. Bo’s long-leggedy an really, really liddle.
He works as a greeter in his Mom’s office, where we conducted the innerview. He didn’t bark, but he zoomed up for the Wag-an-Sniff, full of welcoming wiggles an noo-mer-us licks an kisses for my assistant, who, as usual, went all Silly Human.
“HI! You’re The Bonz, right? Come IN! We can sit in my office! This is my mom, Denise, an my Ant Eva. My dad’s Vin. He’s elsewhere!” Bo took a breath.
“Yo! Bo! Yep, it’s me, The Bonz! Lead the way!”
We followed the peppy liddle dude into a nice room with a big comfy-lookin’ couch. Seriously spiffy. Bo hopped up, invited me to do the same, an began giving my assistant additional kisses an pokin’ about in The Satchel. Opening my notebook, I said, “So, Bo, tell me about yourself. I’m ready to write.”
“I just had my very first birthday Tuesday. I hadda PAR-dee with CUP-cakes anna CAN-dull! Super Crispy Biscuits. An look!” (Bo opened his liddle mouth really wide) “I lost almost all my puppy teeth! Preddy soon I’ll be a Grown-Up Dog.
“Anyway, pre-me, Mom had Maggy. After Maggy went to Dog Heaven in 2010, it was a Very Long Time till Mom was ready for another pooch. When she finally was, she wanted a liddle rescue pooch. But the rescue places were All Outta Liddle Dogs. It was a supply-an-demand thing: See, cuzza that duh-ZEES, all the humans hadda stay home, an they all wanted cuddly liddle pooches to keep ’em CUMP-ny an help ’em to not get duh-pressed or get Doghouse Fever.
“Mom hadda fren in Cuh-NEDDY-cut who had 3 regular-size Australian Shepherds, an Mom really liked ’em. So she went On The Line an discovered some toy ones. That’s how she found ME!”
Suddenly, Bo jumped up. “Oooo! Wait! I’ll be right back!”
Eva had thrown a tennis ball into the hall, an Bo tore off after it inna blur of color. A very, very fast blur. He grabbed the ball, an zoomed back to Eva. (Not all pooches, I’ve observed, have mastered Fetch Part 2, ‘The Return.’ Bo did. Every time. He was One Speedy Poocheroo.)
He returned an flopped down flat as a pancake, all four paws sticking out to the sides.
“Woof! You are Way Fast!” I exclaimed, retrieving my pencil.
“I KNOW!” he said. “I’m also great at Leapin’! I play 4-Frisbee Catch with Mom an Dad. I really go flyin’ then!”
“I’ll bet,” I said with admiration. A door closed somewhere an Bo gave this Very High, Very Loud Bark. Not a Yap. A Big, Full Barky Bay, but very high. I retrieved my pencil. Again.
“Oh, sorry. It’s an in-stink. I only use it when I’m startled or On Guard.”
“I see. So, what’s your day like?”
“I’m learnin’ Basic Dog Stuff from my teacher, Miss Amy. Mom says I’m Treat Driven.”
“Aren’t we all,” I commented. Bo’s Mom held up a treat and said “SIT!”
Bo rushed over and stood in front of her, tail waggin’, his entire body wiggling, ears up, staring intently into her face.
“SIT!” she repeated. Bo looked Very Excited. He kept waggin’ an wigglin’. An standin’.
“SIT!
SIT!
SIT!
SIT!
SIT!”
Still standin’.
“SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT! SIT!”
Still standin’.
Finally, Ant Eva held out a snack an said, “SIT!”
Bo sat, scarffed his snack, then said, sorta sheepish, “I keep forgettin’ that last part: the Caboose on the Floor part.”
“Um, so, Bo, how’s life goin’ thus far?”
“Super Cool Kibbles! I’m liddle, like Mom wanted, but I don’t ackshully ever feel, you know, liddle. She says I’m a Big Dog in a Liddle Dog Suit.”
“I totally agree,” I told him.
“I usta curl up on Mom’s desk buh-tween her computers while she worked. Sometimes I’d grab the really long tail of her Mouse, but she said it wasn’t a good idea. It really didn’t look much like a mouse, anyway. An it just sat on the desk, not movin’ or squeakin’. Kinda boring.
“I travel a lot, mostly buh-tween here an Cuh-NEDDY-cut. An FLYIN’! Way Pawsome! I sometimes get to sit in Mom’s lap cuz I’m pint-size. An puh-lite. An cute. I have a buncha frens, too. My BFF an co-worker is Ninja. He was ’spose to be here today, but he hadda go on Vaca. My neighbor Moses’ Mom, Miss Judith, always gave us treats. Moses didn’t leash walk any more cuzza bein’ Very Old an blind. He’s in Dog Heaven now, but Miss Judith still leaves treats under the steps for us. We love visitin’ Miss Judith.
“Me an Ninja LOVE water!” Bo continued enthusiastically. “’Speshly the O-shun! We have our own life jackets. Chasin’ frogs an lizards an tadpoles out by our pond is Crispy Biscuits, too!
“My human Besties are Ninja’s Mom, Miss Alycia, an my brothers an sisters: Ava (the only one still home), Nickolas, Olivia, David, Vinny an Justin.
“But my Total 24/7 BFF is MOM! I go EVERYWHERE with her. (’Cept Publix.) She says I’m her shadow. She sometimes calls me her ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Dog’ dog, but I don’t have a clue why. It’s one of those human things, I guess.
“I’m Very Puh-TICK-u-ler about Bedtime. It’s ALWAYS buh-tween 9 an 9 thurdy. An I can’t go to sleep without Mom. If she isn’t ready, I CRY. So she tucks me in an keeps the door open so I can see her. Then I can fall asleep.”
Just as we were leaving, Bo said, “Hey, Bonz, Don’t tell my Dad about this innerview, OK? We want it to be a suh-PRISE!”
“You got it, Bo!” I replied.
Heading home, I was smiling – pickchurin’ funny, charming Bo, a liddle poocheroo with a Very Big Personality. I was also pondering my chances of obtaining a non-birthday cupcake.
