I shoulda brought a bunch more Klee-nexes to this week’s innerview. Thank Lassie, there’s a happy ending.
Sadie Lewis didn’t come right to the door; me an my assistant hadda get situated first. I put on my frenliest face an started up my Level 1 (slow-speed) wag. Sadie was carried in by a grown-up human, accompanied by two liddle humans in Halloween clothes. She was a dainty liddle white-an-beige terrier mix, with curly hair, silky ears, sparkly eyes, and a sweet, VERY timid smile.
“Good afternoon, Miss Sadie. I’m Bonzo the Columnist.”
Sadie was placed on the floor and took a coupla steps toward me. “Hello, Mr. Bonzo. I’m not very good at meeting new pooches. Or humans. Please don’t be offended.” She had the softest voice I’d ever heard. “I really am glad you came.” Then she approached for a very polite wag-n-sniff.
“This is my FAM-ly: my Mom Rochelle; my human sister Tali; an my liddle human cuzzins, Kaden, he’s still puppy, he’s 3; an Kaiya, she’s 6, she’s my best fren.”
“It’s a great pleasure to meet you all. An I completely understand, Miss Sadie. I know you went through a lot before you found your Forever Family.”
“Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s why I’m so shy.”
Sadie curled up between her Mom an Kaiya. “Should I start tellin’ my story, Mr. Bonzo?”
“When you’re ready.”
“OK, well, about 5 years ago, Mom an my other sister, Amanda, were livin’ out in Sandy A-go, that’s way far away, by that other big buncha water. Mom was workin’ at home an feelin’ very sad cuz her pooch, Simon, had just gone to Dog Heaven. When Amanda got home, she told Mom there was this dog lyin’ by the side of the house. Mom thought it was probly just passing through, and kept on workin.’ When she was done, she remembered about the dog and thought she might as well take look, but it’d probly be gone by then.”
“Oh, woof,” I said, seeing where this was goin.’
“I’d been totally lost an roamin’ around for days. I don’t know how long. I was so tired I could barely put one paw in front of another, an my mind was fuzzy. I remembered I had a family, then suddenly, I got handed to strangers. They didn’t play with me or anything. They put me out every morning, but they didn’t bring me back in for a long time. So I’d just wander around, hopin’ I wouldn’t run into any big dogs. Then this one day I was wanderin’ an I ree-lized I didn’t know where I was, or where home was. I was scared, hungry, thirsty an totally pooped. I had, like, a zillion fleas, an my coat was a matted mess. Finally I Just. Couldn’t. Walk. Another. Step. I made it to the nearest house and scratched on the door, but I was too weak to make any noise. So I just clapsed by the side of the house, curled up in a ball an started wonderin’ what Dog Heaven would be like. I musta dozed off, cuz next thing I remember was this human lady (Mom) scoopin’ me up an bringin’ me inside, fleas an all. I was too tired to even lift my head.”
“Oh, Sadie! What happened then?”
“First thing, Mom an Amanda gave me a liddle water an food. It was cat food, cuz Amanda only hadda cat. But I didn’t mind. When I was feelin’ a liddle better, they wrapped me up an took me to PetSmart for a lovely bath with flea shampoo. It was WUNNERFUL! The nice humans cut all my mats out an fixed up the places I had been bitin,’ cuzza the fleas.
“I’d been wearin’ a old, dirty collar with tags. Mom made out the phone number, called, an the people ackshully came to pick me up. They told Mom they had given me away (to those other people I didn’t even know) cuz they couldn’t afford me, but that they’d take me back, to get me off Mom’s hands.”
“Oh, Woof.”
“WELL, Mom did NOT have a Good Feeling about that. She said, ‘That’s OK, I’ll Keep Her!”
“Thank Lassie!”
“For sure! See, Mr. Bonzo, me an Mom rescued each other. She’s not sad anymore an I have the Best Life Ever. And, I have a Purpose: to love an protect my famly.”
She sat up straight, lookin’ strong an proud. I wiped my eyes with my paw. Again. “So what’s life like now?”
“I’m a Momma’s Girl. I sleep on my very own pillow, next to Mom. I get two treats a day an all the pats an tummy rubs I want. I sit smack in front of Mom an look all EEE-ger. If she forgets to pat me, I woof. I usta nip sometimes, cuz I’m so liddle an the rest of the world is so big. But I’m much better now.
“I also love playin’ with Kaiya. We’re Girly Girls. She gives the Best Tummy Rubs Ever. (Kaden’s learnin,’ too.) My first Christmas here, me an Kaiya wore matching red plaid outfits. We were adorable! Up in South Duh-co-duh, I’m frens with Doonie, a rescue Ragdoll cat. My pooch pals are Max, a Ridgeback, he’s pretty old, an real gentle, cuz he could totally smush me; an I have playdates with Levi, he’s a Shih Tzu.
“When I’m home alone, I stay in Mom’s office, watch TV, an snuggle with my flopsy kitty toys. I don’t like swimming.’ Mom tried. An I did swim. Once. Straight to the side an outta there. Forever.”
Headin’ home, I was thinkin’ about how many pooches have the same kind of scary experiences Sadie had, but aren’t as lucky as her. Every pooch deserves to have a loving an safe home. And two treats a day.
Till next time,
The Bonz