Wait’ll you hear about my interview this week. I had the BEST time! I got to play on the BEACH! I was working, but it didn’t feel like it. Me and my assistant met Bella and Max Buckley at their house and, when we got there, they already had their leashes on.
They’re Coton de Tulears. Bella is dark and light gray, and Max is all white. They were both wearing short summer haircuts on accounta their hair can get down to the ground almost. Which isn’t all that far, but still…
“Good afterNOON, Mr. Bonzo. I am Bella, I’m the Spokespooch. My full name is Isabella, like the Queen. (But you don’t have to call me Your Majesty.) This is my little brother, Max, short for Maximilian. And our Mom, Scanlan, and our father, Tom, we call him Deeds.
Their Mom began singing a little song, “Who wants to go for a walk with me?” and Bella and Max began wiggling and jumping.
“Mom’s song always means we’re going for a WALK, which we totally love! So we thought it’d be lovely if we conducted our interview on the beach. It’s our favorite place in the world. We have an umbrella for shade and chairs for Mom and your Assistant. So, come ON!”
And off we went. Their Mom had Max’s leash, but Bella ran ahead, dragging hers. Suddenly there were a lotta barks coming from a house across the street. Max and Bella barked back. “That’s our friend Costa, she’s a Golden Retriever!” said Bella.
The wood boardwalk to the beach was shaded by the biggest sea grape trees I’ve EVER seen. Really pretty.
After Bella and Max checked out the water and the teeny sandpipers, we settled in under the umbrella. They piled up heaps of sand, sorta like beds, and plopped down. I did the same thing, then got ready to write. “Can’t wait to her your story,” I said.
“It’s kinda sad at first,” said Bella. “Mom got me and my sister, Cleo (for Cleopatra), when we were puppies. We were her first dogs ever. I’m 9 now. One day Cleo escaped and ran onto the road and got hit by a car and went to Dog Heaven.”
“Oh, woof!” I sympathized.
“It was awful. I wanted Mom to hold me for days. She knew I was sad and lonely, so she took me up to Jacksonville to meet some Puppy Prospects. Max came up to us Right Away. And he’s been my Wonderful, Annoying Little Brother ever since. He’s 8 now. Our human sister Erin calls him Jailbreak cuz he use’ta sneak out.
“When Mom owned Chelsea’s restaurant, we dined on filet, poached salmon, grilled chicken, ribs. It was WONDERful. I guess we were a teeny bit spoiled. But she sold it and NOW we’re reduced to canned dogfood. But,” (she sighed) “we manage.”
I inconspicuously wiped some drool from my mouth and tried not to think about poached salmon. Changing the subject, I asked, “What are your sleeping arrangements?”
“We sleep with Mom and Deeds, of course. I used to sleep on Deeds’ head, which I liked cuz his hair’s the same color as mine. I thought it was comfy, but he kinda didn’t. Now I sleep on the other side by Mom and Max is down at the end.”
Their Mom walked them down to the water. They weren’t scared at all, even though the waves were taller than them. I was impressed. When they shook off and trotted back up, I said, “Woof! You pooches really love the water!”
“Duh!” said Bella. “EVERYbody knows us Cotons have a water heritage. We’re no fluff-muffin pooches. WE are sturdy and fearless. One story says our ancestors were on a ship that sunk off the coast of a big island, MadaGAScar, and they hadda swim to shore and ended up being the Royal Dogs of MadaGAScar. So, of COURSE we’re fabulous in the water.”
“I had no IDEA,” I said, wishing I had Googled.
“That’s OK. Lotsa humans don’t know that, ‘specially because we’re so fluffy and delicate looking.”
Suddenly she took off, red leash flying. She sniffed around in the sand, then started furiously digging. I mean FURIOUSLY! Sand was flying and pretty soon her head disappeared into the hole ’til you couldn’t even see it. When she came up for air, her face was covered with sand.
“Almost had ‘em,” she said.
Max said, “Crabs! She loves to hunt crabs. Usually catches ‘em, too, and flings ‘em up in the air. I think they’ve got it figured out, cuz they dig deeper now.”
Bella trotted back to the umbrella, her nose still covered with sand. “Humph! I’ll get ‘em later!” She turned to me. “I chase crabs, lizards and bugs, like any normal dog. But goofy Max loves to chew paper. Deeds says Max is the only dog he knows who grabs a napkin off the table and leaves the steak. He’s a silly whippersnapper, always got his nose in something. I have to accompany him to the vet and day care so he stays calm. But he’s the best little brother a girl could have. We play cat-and-mouse and sneak up on each other and pounce, but we never fight, and we always share.”
Heading home, I was thinking about what my chances were my Grandma (she’s sorta a foodie) would whip up some poached salmon for me. Can’t hurt to ask, right?
Till next time,
The Bonz