When Olive Ortega-Cowan came to the door to greet me an my assistant, she looked like she had just posed for the cover of ‘Boston Terrier World’: red collar, shiny black-an-white tuxedo coat, square muzzle, black nose, sparkly wide-apart eyes, large sticky-uppy triangle ears anna Very Wide Smile. She was also Tail-Free! Plus, she was Perky. Very Charmingly Perky.
“Good morning, Miss Olive. It’s a great pleasure!” I said, introducing myself an my assistant.
She trotted perkily up for the Wag-an-Sniff. “It IS a fine morning, Mr. Bonzo! Please do come in an make yourselves comf-tubble! This is my Dad, Ro-MAHN. He works from here.
My Mom, Sasha, is elsewhere workin’. I also havva Big Brother an Sister, Noah an Audrey.
They’re in school at the mo-mutt.”
She led us to a comfy sofa, then daintily accepted one-or-two duhlishus treats which my assistant had produced from The Satchel. I flipped my notebook open.
“So, Miss Olive, how did you find your Furever Famly?”
She curled up at my assistant’s feet an began her tail.
“It all began in 2019, when Mom an Dad decided to get a dog for Noah an Audrey – Their First Dog – Noah was 5 an Audrey was 3. ACK-shully it’d also be Mom an Dad’s first dog, if you can buh-LEEVE it. Neither one of ’em had EVER hadda dog!”
“No Woof? That’s uh-MAZE-ing!” I exclaimed.
“I KNOW! Right?” she replied. “They searched an searched for The Right Dog, an finally found Me inna pet store. I was 8 weeks old AND the runt of my litter! Right away, they all loved me, an I totally loved them back. You see, Mr. Bonzo, I am a Peeple Pooch, no offense, I hope.”
“Not at all,” I assured her.
“Anyway, I was sorta nervous at first, since I’d just left my Momma and sibs. But not for long. Pretty soon, I was just a typical goofy liddle pupper. When my baby teeth were comin’ in, I chewed A LOT, mostly furniture corners which, I understand, are many puppers’ teething pre-fur-ence.”
“I remember those days,” I remarked. “So, any pooch pals? Whaddya do for X-er-size? Do you travel?”
“Not really any pooch pals,” she replied. “Ackshully, my Bestie is Joey. That’s him on the chair.”
While we were talking, a hansome long-haired, multi-colored cat had, apparently, crept in on liddle cat feet an curled up inna nearby chair.
“Hey, Joey,” Olive called, “This is Mr. Bonzo. He writes this pet coll-um for the pay-purr and we’re gonna be in it. Cool Kibbles, right?”
“Umm, I guess,” Joey replied. “What’s a coll-um? What’s a pay-purr? Whaddya mean by ‘In it’?”
“Hello, Joey. I didn’t see you there. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said, adding, “a coll-um’s like a story. Anna pay-purr is, um, like a big floppy book. An lotsa humans read it. I write about all sorts of fellow pets. ‘In it’ means I’m gonna write a story about you, an Olive an put it in the pay-purr.”
“Oh. That’s IS Cool Catnip! You can write that I was only 15 weeks old when Mom an Dad got me last March. I was bunkin’ at the Smoky Valley Dog Bakery in, lemme think, Waynesville, North Caruh-LINE-uh (that’s another state than this one). The nice humans there were tryin’ to help me find a fur-ever home. Mom an Dad had just stopped in to get some dog treats for Olive when they met me. Me an Olive hit it off right away. We didn’t ree-lize about that ‘cat-an-dog’ thing. We’re Total BFFs, usually just wrestlin’ around!”
“Cool Kibbles” I exclaimed. “Where do you sleep? Do you like travelin’? Fave foodstuffs?”
“I sleep in my bed in Mom an Dad’s room, OR with Noah in his Cool Kibbles loft bed. Joey sleeps wherever,” said Olive.
“I like travelin’ probly more than Joey. An it’s a good thing I also like Dog Treats or we wouldn’t of ever met Joey.”
“Troo,” agreed Joey. “We also both like peanut budder! A LOT!”
“Word!” agreed Olive. “Here at home, I LOVE chasin’ RAH-butts around the yard. TRAY fun!”
“Whereas,” innerjected Joey, “I pruh-fur watchin’ Squirrels AN RAH-butts from the padio.
PLUS, neither of us has been to that big buncha water, what’s it called …?”
“The O-shun,” prompted Olive.
“Right. The O-shun. Anyway, I love travellin’. I’ve been up to North Caruh-LINE-uh three whole times with Mom an Dad. We hike all over the woods. I’m a great x-plorer. A coupla times, when I’m off-leash, I sorta run off and go x-plorin’ an Mom an Dad are like ‘Where’s Olive?’ But I ALWAYS come back uh-VEN-chew-wully. Didja know, a long time ago, us Boston Terriers usta be tuff fightin’ dogs AND rat chasers. It gives me the Utter Willies just thinkin’ about that.”
“O woof! I’m glad that was a long time ago,” I told her.
“Me too. I do get a liddle bit x-cited when I’m off leash, an I may, possibly, on occasion, run off. However, as soon as I see some humans, I stop to say hello an Mom an Dad can catch up an (usually) put my leash back on.
“Then, when it gets a liddle chilly, I like showin’ off my lovely pink jacket. It really makes my eyes pop. I guess I tend to follow Dad around,” she mused. “Maybe I’m a Daddy’s Grrrl. But it’s mostly cuz he usually feeds me an takes me on walks.”
“An,” noted Joey, “we are both what I like to call E-Quell Opper-TOO-nutty Snugglers. An Olive even Sits for a treat an also Rolls Over. Sometimes over an over an …”
“Like THIS!” said Olive, an promptly began rollin’ over and over an over … it was huh-LARRY-us.”
Headin’ home, I was laughin’, picturin’ Olive rollin all over the place, an thinkin’ how Cool Kibbles it is that Olive an Joey – a pooch anna fee-line – are each other’s BFF.
Till next time,
