Life from a Dog’s Perspective
I was sitting in the kitchen that day, waiting to get fed. It was way past mealtime and I was starving. What’s a dog gotta do to get something to eat around here? I’m so hungry, my stomach thanks me every time I swallow!
My human sat at the kitchen table in her robe, talking to what she called a phone. I don’t know why she talked to that thing ’cause it never talked back to her. ‘Course, she talked to me too and I never talked back. Dogs can’t make the sounds a human makes.
Sitting next to my doggy dish, looking as pitiful as I could, she looked at me three times, but kept on talking. She usually took good care of me.
Life had always been pretty good. I had a nice house, plenty of space and two humans, a male called Alex and a female called Joan. They fed me and made sure I had water. But Joan just wasn’t herself that day.
She finally put the phone down. I started wagging my tail, expecting to get fed when she left the kitchen. By then, my stomach was starting to think my throat had been cut!
She finally got me something to eat and even got me some fresh water. Having satisfied my hunger, I needed to find a nice quiet place to nap. The rug in the living room was my favorite place but on my way, I felt the urge and needed to go outside.
Standing patiently at the door, waiting for her to take me out, she picked up the phone again. By the time she finished talking to that thing, my eyeballs were floating!
I was ready to burst when Alex opened the door and stepped into the house. I wagged myself stupid, tongue hanging out, whining, letting him know I needed to go out. All I got was a scratch behind the ear and a pat on the head.
Well, I knew what I had to do. They had left me no choice. I started scratching furiously at the door. The leash went on, the door opened, and as soon as I hit the yard I let it all out.
Alex waited patiently and when I finished, he stooped down, petting me for a long time and seemed to be apologizing. When we went back inside, Alex and Joan started arguing, pointing at me.
I had never heard them shout at each other like that. I realized then why Joan had been so distracted that morning, letting me go so long without food and not walking me when I had to go. She and Alex had been fighting.
Watching them argue, hearing them shout at each other, was a complete surprise. I loved them both and hated seeing them like that. I don’t know what they had argued about, but at that moment, I knew they were arguing about me.
Alex was upset with her because she hadn’t taken me outside. But she had never done that before. Never. Most of the time she would take me out whether I needed to go or not. She was a good human and it hurt my heart to watch them fight about me.
Dogs don’t understand all of the sounds a human makes when they’re communicating, but we understand enough to know what’s going on. It didn’t take me long to realize that Alex was leaving.
I couldn’t tell whether he wanted to go or if she was making him go. I just knew he was leaving, and that he wanted to take me with him. Joan wanted me to stay with her, but he argued that she wasn’t taking care of me.
Sitting by the door, listening helplessly, I noticed the door wasn’t closed all the way. Pushing it open far enough to get through, I looked back at my humans and quietly slipped out.
Making my way around the house to the backyard, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to leave my home, but I wanted to be with Alex as much as I wanted to be with Joan. Sitting by the fence in the backyard, feeling sad, the Pomeranian came out of her house through the doggy door.
Coming over to the fence, she said she’d never seen me outside without one of my humans. I broke down and told her the whole story. I whined like a puppy through every detail and when I finished, she said I needed to hide from them.
At first, I thought she was nuts, but she convinced me that they might get back together while looking for me. It was worth the chance and I decided to hide and not go to them when they called me.
It wasn’t easy, crouching in the bushes, hearing them calling me with obvious concern in their tones. The two of them walked around the house calling, whistling for me. I almost went to them when Joan started crying and Alex put his arms around her.
But I thought they needed more time. Dogs can feel the emotions of love very strongly and I knew my humans loved each other.
It was almost dark when the Pomeranian came through her doggy door with a biscuit, passing it to me through the fence. She was a pretty little dog, with her big brown eyes and short, stumpy legs.
I was starving, and scarfed it right down. She stayed with me until her human called her in for the night. I lay in the bushes, wondering what was happening with Alex and Joan.
Morning dew fell slowly over the thick bushes as first light spread over the backyard. The ground was cold and I shivered, wishing I was on the rug in my living room. The biscuit I had the night before was all I had eaten and my stomach felt like it was rubbing against my backbone!
By the time the sun topped the horizon, I expected to hear Alex leave through the front door. He usually left about that time of day. But as the sun rose higher, he still hadn’t left the house. Staring at my back door, I wanted so much to go back inside to a dish full of food and my warm rug.
It was about that time when the back door opened. Alex and Joan stepped out, walking down the steps arm in arm. They separated at the bottom, walking around the house calling and whistling for me. By the time they came back around to the backyard, I couldn’t stand it anymore and crawled on my belly out of the bushes.
They were on me in a flash, picking me up, hugging, kissing me, carrying me back into the house. I was wet and cold from the dew. They wrapped a towel around me and petted me for the longest time.
Pretty soon, they turned from me to each other. I was confident at that moment that they were back together. Wiggling out of the towel, I went to my doggy dish and they filled it to the top.
The next morning when my leash went on and the door opened, I pulled Joan next-door, scratching at the front door. Joan tried to pull me back and I began barking until the human that lived there came to the door, followed by the Pomeranian. Our tails curled up as we exchanged sniffs.
The humans laughed and soon separated us. But every time the leash went on, I headed over there. Before long, they let me visit with her in the fenced backyard.
That was a while back and today, I’m the proud father of two healthy pups. I now have a doggy door and a fenced backyard of my own leading into the neighbors’ backyard so I can be with my family.
My humans are still together and life just doesn’t get any better than this.
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