Whenever I feel grumpy cuz we ran outta my favrite yoghurt, or I didn’t get enough buh-hind-the-ear scratches, I remind myself of rescue pooches I’ve met who’ve had a WAY rougher time than me, before they found their Furever Famlies. Mack McInerney is one of them.
Mack’s a yellow Black Mouth Cur, an the frenly man who met us at the door said we should get seated an comftubble before he let Mack outta The Other Room, so he wouldn’t barkbarkbark like we were Strangers.
So we did.
Mack did a liddle barkin’ anyway, just in case.
After I innerduced myself an my assistant, Mack approached for the Wag-an-Sniff, then poked his nose into my assistant’s Satchel, which always contains duh-lishus Yoghurt an Sweet Puh-tado snacks, which Mack was allowed to accept.
“Thank you,” he said puh-litely. “I stashed haff behind the chair for Future Reference. No offense about the Bark. Nothing personal. I take protecting my famly Very Seriously. They saved me from Dire Straights. If they hadn’t, I’d be in Dog Heaven by now, fur sure. This is my Daddy, John. My Mommy Ashley’s at work. Gramma Sturgis lives nearby, an Grampa Sturgis is in Heaven. So, should I start tellin’ you my story now?”
“Yep,” I said, pen in paw. “I’m ready.”
“It all started in 2010, up in Alla-BAMMA, on the great big (3,000-acre, Daddy says) Family Farm. My Mommy an her Mommy, Paige (I call her Gramma Sturgis), were walkin’ around when they spotted this buh-draggled pupper, ME, at the edge of a great big, dark woods. I was very wobbly an weak.
“I had, like, a zillion fleas, ickky worms, an something called Mange, an I was almost fallin’ over inna heap.”
“Oh, Woof,” I exclaimed. “That’s totally Dismal Dog Biscuits!”
“It WAS! But for some reason, when Mommy an Gramma Sturgis came over an picked me up, I wasn’t scared at all. I was ackshully happy! I felt safe, even. They carried me back to the farmhouse and Mommy called Daddy, back home in New HAM-shur. See, Gramma an Grampa lived down here buh-for Mommy an Daddy did.
“WELL, Mommy an Daddy had been sorta lookin’ for a dog to be a fren to their cat, Irney. (Their other cat, Mack had gone to Cat Heaven.) BUT, they ABSOLUTELY DIDNT WANT A PUPPER cuz they’d just done a lotta work on their house, an puppers can get a liddle ram-BUNK-shus. But Mommy KNEW I was The Dog. So she says to Daddy, ‘I found this Dog.’
“An Daddy says to Irney, ‘We got a dog comin’ to New HAM-shur.’”
“So me an my new Mommy an Gramma drove to New HAM-shur: It took two days with lotsa stops for me along the way. Right away, Daddy ree-lized I WAS The Dog, even though I needed a lotta help at first.
“They took me to the vet to get all healthy an spiffed up. I’m still Very Good at the vet. I jump right up on the scale.
“Mommy and Daddy also got a ’lectric fence, a bed, anna whole buncha toys. I attended Doggy DayCare, and got enrolled in School, which Daddy calls Harvard for Dogs. Me an Irney were besties till she hadda go to Cat Heaven.
“I loved runnin’ around checkin’ out the budderflies, an foxes, an one time I saw an ackshull MOOSE. It’s a gi-NORE-muss, scary fellow animal, with huge, funny branches sticking outta its head. An the SNOW. It’s So Fun playin’ in it, tryin’ to bite those little teeny pieces fallin’ outta the sky! It’s pretty cold on your paws, though, so Mommy got me booties. WELL, they lasted about as long as it took me to kick ’um off. I mean, puh-LEEZE.”
“I hear ya’,” I agreed.
“The first time I visited Gramma an Grampa in Vero Beach, the airplane people had just started lettin’ poocheroos ride with their famlies, IF we could fit under the seat. I was a liddle pupper, so Mommy stuffed ME into a comfy carrier, an stuffed IT under the seat. I sorta dozed an pretty soon the airplane landed an – no more snow. Anyway, after a while, Mommy an Daddy got tired of winter so we all came down here for good.”
“So, what’s life been like?” I inquired.
“Totally Cool Kibbles,” Mack replied enthusiastically. “I love leash walks, ’specilly when I get to see my BFFs Rosie, Penny an Sweetie. I usta zoom around with my pals at the dog park, but I’m gettin’ Up There these days, although I still have The Zoomies sometimes, an go flyin’ all over the house.
“A while back, Mommy got this harness an leash thingy that your human is ’spose to attach to their bike an then they can jauntily peddle down the street with their Faithful Compan-yun (that would be ME) trottin’ along beside.”
“Oooo boy,” I thought, anticipating the rest of the story.
“So,” continued Mack, “Mommy put the halter an leash on me and hooked it to her bike. WELL, I was like, ‘I love you, Mommy, but … NO WAY!!’
“I shook as hard as I could, the bike fell over, an I did a few loops around the yard, dragging the bike behind, until Mommy managed to untangle me, and decided perhaps it wasn’t as good an idea as she had initially anticipated. I mean, she’s the Best Mommy EVER, but I have my pride. Ya know?”
“Totally,” I replied.
“Oh, an, guess what?” Mack said, excitedly. “Our neighbor Miss Ginny has a neighborhood Blog, with a special dog page, an she’s gonna write about ME. Isn’t that PAWSOME!? An I’m gonna be even MORE fame-us bein’ in your column with my PICK-shur!
“I’m a happy dog, Bonz,” he concluded contentedly. “I have pooch frens, my own bed, yummy food an a Furever Famly!”
Headin’ home, I was thinkin’ how, outta 3,000 acres, Mack an his Furever Famly found each other. And I smiled.
Till next time,