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Ben's Journal
"Adventures of a Foster
Dog"
Let me
introduce myself...
My
name is Ben, and I'm a Golden Retriever, two years old. In my
short life I've had quite a few adventures. When I was just a
pup, in my first human home, I wasn't very well cared for... oh,
I got food and water, but not very much love. And as
everyone knows, us Goldens need a lot of that -- almost more than
food, or water, or even WOOBIES!
When I was just about 15 weeks old, a very nice lady named Michelle came to my rescue, and gave me a wonderful home in Lafayette, Indiana. I was very happy with her... she gave me so much love that I could hardly believe my good fortune. She also taught me many things ... "sit," "come," "down," "stay," and "off" were easy, but she also challenged me to learn hand signals, and to be well behaved around everyone I met. She bought me more kinds of toys than I knew existed, and a huge crate full of soft blankets to sleep in! But the love was the most important part!!!
But one day not too long ago, she was very sad, and explained that she would have to leave me for a while, because she was going to be moving to a new place called Illinois, and that there would be no room for me. I was bewildered and VERY SCARED!!!! Who would LOVE me???
But then Mom said I was going to a new place... "Vetters' Place" ... I didn't know what that meant... until YESTERDAY! ... October 4, 1997.
Things Mom
Never Taught Me!
It
started out to be a normal enough day. Breakfast, playtime, then
a CAR RIDE! We stopped in a lane waaaaaaay out in the country,
and got out of the car. Suddenly, there was another dog there, a
speckledy one, and a man. Well, we sniffed each other pretty
good, and the speckledy dog even growled at me, but he didn't
bite, so I just looked at my Mom, and the man, and tried to be
good and quiet. Then we went for a walk up the road, past a pond
& the speckledy dog was busy sniffin' and so was I. Then
suddenly, we were walking through a gate into the biggest yard I
ever saw! But uh-oh!!! There are TWO MORE DOGS!!!!
By now, I was startin' to feel REALLY FRIGHTENED!!! Even though two of the dogs (a low-to-the-ground older lady dog, and a Golden sorta like me) were being nice, that speckledy dog was making it clear that he didn't much want me around. I couldn't figure out all he was saying, because, you see, even though my Mom taught me all those words and hand signals in people language, I NEVER LEARNED TO SPEAK "DOG"!!!!!!! You see, my human Mom taught me all those people words & signs herself, and I never went to a dog school.
But boy, was I learning fast now! And I learned another thing... when two dogs don't get along, humans get very liberal with passing the treat jar!! A nice lady who I learned is gonna be my foster Mom brought out a WHOLE TUB of freeze-dried liver. At first, I didn't think I should take it out of anybody's hand except for my human Mom's, but the other dogs were gettin' so many treats that I just had to try!! And then we were so busy snarfing up treats that we forgot our differences and were just yammin' down those liver treats like it was one big celebration! To make a long story short, somewhere in the middle of all that munching, the speckledy dog sniffed me all over (probably looking for more treats in my golden fur), and stopped growling and snapping at me. But things weren't settled yet. I was still kind of hot under the collar, and I guess Smokey (that's the speckledy dog's name) was too! All of a sudden, I spied a little fishpond in the yard and just jumped in! Well, Smokey came in right after me (but that pond isn't hardly big enough for two!). So we just looked at each other -- who would get out first? Well guess what? We both got out at the same time, goin' different directions and started shakin' that water EVERYWHERE!!! And now that we weren't so hot under the collar anymore we started running around to dry out... suddenly we were running side by side -- it was such fun! I had made a friend!
Gee, this is getting sort of long... and I hear food pouring into a bowl, so I'll finish "Day 1" soon, but for now, SUPPER!
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