I’ve really gotta cut down on the bread!
Oops, did I say that out loud? Sorry. It’s just that I’ve been innerviewing a lotta real small pooches (anna cat) recently, which made me realize I might possibly have put on a liddle around the middle.
Anyway, this week’s teeny liddle interviewee is Little Bit Powers, who weighs in at a whopping 3.6 pounds. She says she hasta get weighed with her Mom, Tracey, cuz when she’s on the scale by herself, it doesn’t even register.
Little Bit is a white Maltese, very pretty, delicate and femi-nun. She approached for the Wag-and-Sniff, and said, in a soft liddle voice, “It’s Super Cool Dog Biscuits seeing you again, Mr. Bonzo.”
“Ummm …” I stammered, like an Utter Dork.
Little Bit gave a liddle laugh. “Oh, of course you don’t remember me. There were so many dogs. It was last summer at that Surf Dogs competition at Pepper Park Beach. Me an Mommy an some others were Waldo’s Leverette’s cheering section.”
I rallied. “OH! RIGHT! I remember now! That was some excitin’ day! It’s Super Cool Dog Biscuits seein’ you again, too, Miss Little Bit! So now I’m gonna write about YOU!”
Little Bit curled up in her comftubble-lookin’ daybed and began her story.
“I like to say I found my Forever Home cuz my Mommy was a Foster Failure. It all began up near Chicago. I was in a big buncha dogs who were rescued from a Puppy Mill. I was s’pose to have lotsa puppies but I only had one, so they were gonna throw me away, even though I was only 3. But, instead, we all got rescued. We got put in liddle cages, stacked inna big van, an taken to Illinois Animal Rescue.
“As it happened, my future Mommy was workin’ there at the same time, Thank Lassie! She was helpin’ unload the van an spotted me. We had all been checked by a vet before we went to the Rescue place, and most of us, including me, were totally shaved. It’s amazin’ she even looked twice, cuz, without my coat – which had been all ukky an matted – I probly looked like a rat.
“Anyway, Mommy’s always helpin’ Animals Less Fortunate, so she agreed to foster me till I could find a Forever Home. She had some other fosters, too, which was nice. I didn’t know how to play (still don’t) since I’d been inna cage my whole life. But I did make frens with Max, he was a gentle Otter Hound. They’re rare. He sorta became my Big Brother. We’d snuggle up together and go to sleep. Evenshully he an the others got adopted. But Mommy decided to adopt me herself. I was SO happy. I missed Max, but I knew he got a good Forever Home. Now I snuggle up and go to sleep with Mommy.
“First thing she did was give me a new name. I don’t remember havin’ a Puppy Mill name, but the Rescue humans called me Pinky cuz my skin was all pink, before my nice white coat grew back. I like Little Bit much better, don’t you?”
“It’s perfect for you, Miss Little Bit,” I agreed. “So what’s life been like since then?”
“Wonderful! Even though I still don’t ackshully play, I have a coupla nice leashwalk acquaintances. ’Specially Miles, he’s a Bolonka. From Russia. Which is wa-ay over that way.” (She pointed out the window.) “I’m pretty sure he wants to be my boyfren, but I guess I’m just an independent kinda girl, you know?”
I didn’t, but I nodded.
“Then there’s Cricket, she’s like you, an English Springer Span-yull. But she’s still a puppy an ALWAYS wants to play. I don’t wanna hurt her feelings, but I’m SO liddle and she’s SO bouncy.
“I usta hang out with Dewey an his human, Miss Lynn, she’s Mommy’s fren. But Dewey went to Dog Heaven and we were Very Sad. Miss Lynn kept his comfy bed to remember him by an now, when I’m stayin’ with her, I curl up in it. It’s comforting cuz it still smells like Dewey.”
I wiped my nose with my paw.
“Didja ever come across a cat?”
“One time,” Little Bit replied. “We fostered four kittens from a Women’s Prison. That’s where human ladies hafta go if they do bad stuff. The ladies haff to stay, but the kittens didn’t haff to. They’d do that rubby, makin’-biscuits thing kittens do, an I’d nibble their tummies. They were SO soft. There’s also this neighbor cat, Peyton. We mostly just say hi.”
“Cool Kibbles,” I said. “So, any favrite foods?”
“I know I don’t look like it since I’m so small, but I’m a Total Foodie.”
“No, Woof!” I exclaimed. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have guessed.”
“It’s kinda i-RON-ick, too, Mr. Bonzo. See, cuz we didn’t get any healthcare at the Puppy Mill, I hadda have all my teeth out after we got rescued. But I still have my Appa-tite. An it’s Big Dog Size. I’m ALWAYS ready to eat. I know ZACK-ly when mealtimes are. 8:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m. an 5:30 p.m. On the Kibble! If Mommy is late – like 8:31 a.m., for example – I rush over an do my liddle reminder Bouncy Dance. Mommy says I look like one of those big white dancing horses – Lippy-somethings – except smaller.”
“But, isn’t it hard for your Mom to find yummy food you can eat with no teeth?” I wondered.
“You’d think. But my Mommy is wunnerful! She put me on a raw diet, grain- and gloo-tun-free. An it’s ackshully duh-li-shush. I get frozen, grass-fed, mooshed-up raw beef, lamm or chiggen. Sometimes even surf an turf. It’s made by two humans: Stella an Chewy. An mooshed-up sweet potato or carrot or punkin seeds for a snack – organic, of course.”
“Of course,” I murmured.
Heading home, I was thinkin’ about Miss Little Bit. Even though she doesn’t know how to play an doesn’t have any teeth, she’s a totally sweet, happy poocheroo. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.
Till next time,
The Bonz