This week’s innerview was over at the big Dog Park by the river. I don’t do a lotta innerviews there, but it’s always fun, with all kinds of poocheroos runnin’ around playin’ an socializin’.
Also, I got to yap with TWO innerview-ees, Linus Gibbons an Cabana Boy Barrett, who both participaded in a Very Important Art Project with their Moms: paintin’ the Dog Park Fire Hydrants! No Woof!
I mean, fire hydrants are usually, well, kinda boring. You Do Your Duty an then forget about ’em.
But not THESE. I guess the Dog Park humans thought fancyin’ ’em up would make the park look prettier an, like that bear famly on TV, us pooches might as well Enjoy the Go. So they asked some human artists if they’d volunteer to spiff ’em up.
Linus is a tidy black-an-white Staffordshire Terrier with an upbeat doganality. When he smiles, his whole face turns into one Big Grin! He has this bouncy run, an when he was, like, scopin’ something out, he got inna sorta cat crouch with his caboose up, an then – pow! – launched himself into the air!
Soon as he an his human spotted us, Linus trotted over for the Wag-an-Sniff.
“Mr. Bonzo! Am I right? I’m Linus Gibbons an this is my Mom, Roxane. (My Daddy’s Kevin.)”
“That is SO Cool Kibbles, Linus,” I said. “It’s great to meet you. So, tell me a liddle about yourself.”
“Well, last October, Mom was surfin’ the net an saw a pickshur of me an my lidder, 5 of us, all boys. I stood out cuzza my unusual-for-my-breed colors. Mom an Daddy happened to be eatin’ atta rest-runt called Out Back an, soon as Mom showed Daddy my pick-shur, he totally fell in love with my adorableness and, right then an there, he called up our breeder to make sure nobody else got me.
“It took, like, Zero time for me to get use to my Furever Famly. It was great. I’m gonna be 1 (in human) Aug. 14. I have a sister, Lucy, who enjoys chasin’ budderflies. I knew right from the start that Mom was My Person. She gave me my new name, thank Lassie, ’specially cuz my Official Papers Name is, if you can buh-leeve it, Keltie’s Eternal Optimist.”
“Impressive,” I said. “But Linus totally suits you.”
“Since I’m still pretty puppyish, I sleep in my cozy crate, right next to Lucy, in our bedroom. To relax an get sleepy, we listen to classical music. My favrite’s Mozart.”
“Cool Kibbles!”
While we talked, Cabana Boy had been flyin’ all over the field, meetin’ an greetin’, waitin’ his turn to tell his tail. He’s a jaunty, charmin’ liddle Havanese with big brown eyes anna curly white-with-cream coat. An boy did he have a druh-MADDIC story.
“This is my Mom, Teri, we’re BFFs. I get to wear fun costumes and I have my own Cabana Boy towel and Adirondack chair. I have the Best Life Ever. All because Mom saved me when I was in Dire Straits.”
“What happened?”
“I guess whoever had me, which I can’t remember, just abandoned me. I was scared to bits an was runnin’ around in the road, an all the cars were beepin’ and tryin’ not to hit me. Some humans had pulled to the side and were tryin’ to grab me but I kept running away. Mom had pulled over, too, an when she got out of her car and came toward me, I ran right straight to her. I just somehow KNEW I’d be safe with her. She scooped me up and took me to the Humane Society in case my owners were searching for me. But they weren’t. So she got to officially adopt me three weeks later: on Valentine’s Day!”
“Oh, Cabana Boy, what a Crispy Biscuits story!”
“I KNOW. She was there when I needed her most an, guess what, Mom says I came into her life when she needed me most, also. I didn’t know it at the time, but her Mom had gone to Heaven exactly one year before that very day when I was out in the road.”
I swallowed and wiped my eyes with my paw. Stories like that remind me of how much good us pooches can do for our humans.
So,” I addressed them both, “how’d you get this Crispy Biscuits gig?”
“Well,” Cabana Boy began, “The Dog Park people put out the word they were lookin’ for artist volunteers to paint their convenient-but-boring hydrants. BOTH our Moms are really good artists, PLUS they love dogs, so they decided to donate their time an paintin’ talent. They’re always painting stuff for people. Not houses or anything. But Pretty stuff like pickshurs an dishware. Art’s their JOB. An me an Linus help! Suggest colors. Check perspective. Stuff like that. While our Moms were paintin’ our hydrants, we stood watch, makin’ sure a random fellow pooch didn’t attempt to use ’em pre-muh-CHUR-ly!”
“A wise move,” I observed.
“My Mom says I’m her in-spuh-RAY-shun,” Linus proudly shared. “AN, guess what? I was the model for the hydrant she painted! SEE!” he zipped over an posed next to “his” hydrant. It was Way Cool Kibbles: a black-an-white pooch that looked just like Linus, same spots an everything, an wearin’ a red firefighter hat.
“An MY Mom says our art is ‘fun art, not fine art,’ an we sure had fun painting my hydrant,” said Cabana Boy. He led us across the field to his hydrant. It was a pretty blue color, like under water, an there were pink fish anna chubby gold fish, an green seaweed an pink starfish. Seriously Crunchy Biscuits.
I was impressed. “Woof, these are Majorly Cool Kibbles!” I said. “You an your Moms sure are talented. Turned plain ol’ hydrants into works of art.”
Had an hour passed already? Headin’ home, I was thinkin’ about how many good things get done because humans, an often pooches, too, give their time and talent for good causes.
Till next time,
