If you look up “lovable” in your dogtionary, you’re probly gonna find “Moose Bennett.” Well, at least you should. Moose is a 45-pound Goldendoodle puppy (7 months old) who’s bursting with happiness an eagerness an bounciness and lots of Zwah-duh-VEEV-ruh. He’s tall, with short curly white hair stem-to-stern, an very On Trend light gold ears an topknot and a cool gold patch on his back.
Moose got his Mom to help him send me a woofmail. He said his fren, Devon, had been in the column a few months ago an he wondered if he maybe could be, too. He included a pick-shur of himself in bunny-ears cuz it was Eastertime, an I laughed till I almost toppled over.
Even though he’s Very Big for his age, Moose is still a total puppy at heart. He greeted me an my assistant at the door with a large amount of gusto. An lotsa leaping.
“HI! I’m Moose Bennett! This is my Mom, Meredith. I jus got my Summer Cut so I wouldn’t look like a sheepdog for my pickshur. See?”
He bounced an leaped. I steadied myself.
“Hello there, Moose. Lookin’ good!” I said, retrieving my notebook.
“Oops, sorry,” he said. “I keep forgettin’. I’m not s’pose to leap ’cept outside with lotsa room. I’m takin’ CLASSES, but I just LOVE leapin’. Once, I leaped so high I landed on the kitchen counter. Then I didn’t know how to get down. It was scary.”
He leaped joyfully a few more times, skidding across the tile on big fluffy paws. My assistant laughed, patted his topknot, an tried to remain upright.
“Oops, sorry!” said Moose. “It’s just that … oh, what’s THAT?”
My assistant had wisely decided to sit, and Moose decided to sit, also. On my assistant.
Moose had noticed The Satchel, an poked his nose (ackshully, about half his face) into it, checkin’ for items of intrest. My assistant was still laughing an callin’ him a Silly Puppy.
“SIT!” said his Mom.
“Oops, sorry!” said Moose. He jumped down an plopped his caboose onto the floor.
“See, Mr. Bonzo. See what I learned! This is called ‘Sit!’ Isn’t it GREAT?”
“Absolutely, Moose. I don’t know when I’ve seen a more enthusiastically executed ‘Sit.’ So (I clutched my notebook) tell me your story.”
“OK! See, Mom’s from L.A. It’s on the West Coast. Way far that way.” He pointed. “At the edge of a whole buncha water, like here. Anyway, she hadda liddle rescue pooch, Pugsly, for 84 dog years. Cuzza that duh-ZEESE humans were gettin’, Mom an Pugsly came here to live with Gramma an Pappy, an Mom hadda work ruh-MOTE-ly, which means sittin’ inna chair in front of one of those TV thingys with a whole buncha liddle people’s faces, an they can talk to each other even though they’re not ackshully there, an you don’t hafta to wear shoes if you don’t want to.
“Well, last August, Pugsly hadda go to Dog Heaven. Mom was Very Sad. So Gramma an Pappy suggested she get another Dog Fren. Mom agreed, but not a small pooch cuzza remindin’ her of Pugsly. An it hadda not make her sneeze. She did some REE-search an decided on a Golden Doodle cuz we don’t make humans sneeze an also we have Pawsome Dis-puh-ZISH-shuns. She found a Good Breeder in a place called Frostproof, an looked at pickshurs of the new litter. MY litter. Mom picked me cuzza my wunderful gold places.
Then they all drove down to get me. It was Halloween, so they decided to call me Boo. Or Bear. Or Teddy. But when Mom saw my Very Big Paws (I was only 8 weeks old an weighed 13 pounds), she said I was gonna be big as a moose. So – Wah-La! Sometimes they call me Moosers. Or Goofball. Or Scara-Moose, for some funny song they like.”
“It’s a great name!” I told him. “So, what’s you day like?”
“I love running with my Dog Park pals! An, every morning, me an Mom leash walk along Ocean Drive, usually to the Ocean Grill or Nino’s, an meet lotsa other pooches an humans.
They’re always stoppin’ (sometimes in their cars, even) to say ‘Hello, Moose!’ an give me treats. Mom says the humans don’t know HER name, but they all know MINE, which I think is funny. She also says a 30-minute walk takes a lot longer cuzza all the stops. One liddle grrl kept runnin’ away from her Mom to give me hugs. It’s funny, Bonzo, but I just KNEW to be real gentle an not bouncy with her.”
“That’s an IN-stink,” I told him.
“I have tons of pooch pals, too: Devon, of course; Gusto; Gustavo; Denny (he’s old an wise); an Annie from Cuh-NETTI-cut. An sometimes Uncle Jon visits from Georgia with his rescue pooches, Finn an Millie. We play an play till we’re totally pooped.
“I also enjoy just chillin’ in the back yard, lookin’ at the ocean an catchin’ the breeze. On Saturday, we go to the Farmers Market. Way Cool Kibbles! They have duh-LICIOUS bread. I LOVE bread!”
“Word!” I exclaimed.
“An BIRDS! They’re uh-MAZE-zing. How do they stay UP there?”
“Any favrite foodstuffs?”
“Anything with CREAM CHEESE! Greenies! An pork liver biscuits!
“At night, I snuggle with Mom, then I get in my cozy crate with my green dinosaur stuffy an go to sleep. I also stay in it when Mom an Gramma an Pappy go out. One time, they came back an I was MISSING. My crate was empty an still shut. They thought I was a magician. Or maybe I’d been dognapped. It was a MISS-tree. They finely found me snoozing up in Gramma an Pappy’s room. THEN Mom ree-lized my crate has a side door. Now she zip ties it.”
Heading home, I thought about lovable Moose, the Doodle puppy with great big paws and a heart to match. Also about bread. An birds. How DO they stay up there?
Till next time,
