A Dog and a Keyboard

Rocky and Sandy met at the Dog Library. They fell in love over a tennis ball. But they came from very different homes.

Sandy had never seen a tennis ball before. She didn’t have one at home. Or any other toys. No biscuits either. For dinner her humans gave her raw meat with dust bunnies. Her life wasn’t easy.

Rocky had lots of tennis balls at home. They were scattered all over the floor, along with his other toys. He also got plenty of dog biscuits. Even though he was a big Golden Retriever, his humans let him sleep on their bed. He had a good life.

When Rocky met Sandy in the Dog Library, he had just put a tennis ball in his mouth. He dropped it when he saw her, then rolled it over in her direction. Sandy ignored the ball as it went by. She didn’t know what to do with it. Rocky felt sorry for her. He showed her how to catch the rolling ball.

After hesitating for a minute, Sandy ran after it. Then she put it in her mouth. She learned that from Rocky.

Kissed over a tennis ball

Rocky waited for Sandy to drop the ball, but she held onto it. He tried to get it out of her mouth. That’s when they first kissed.

Sandy was startled. She had never been kissed before. Not even by her humans. But she liked Rocky. He was nice to her.

Rocky and Sandy started a game of Bounce and Roll in the middle of the Dog Library. Other dogs came to watch. Some even tried to steal the ball, but Rocky growled at them.

He wanted to help Sandy take the tennis ball home.

Mop met Puddle in the Dog Library. Mop, a large and muscular dog, had been there many times before. But Puddle, petite and playful, was new to the library.

Mop started panting when he saw Puddle. She was cute and she looked confused, so he thought he’d show her around the library.

He first took Puddle to the biscuit vending machine. Every dog should know where that is.

Next to it were bowls of water for the dogs. Some were turned over, which made Puddle feel right at home.

The smell of water

Both dogs were drawn to the smell of water. Mop liked scents of soapy water and new sponges. It reminded him of his mother, whose name was Bucket.

Puddle liked the watery scents of mud and rain. Her friends called her Mud Puddle. Or Rain Puddle. Puppies called her Pee Puddle. Humans sometimes called her An Accident.

Despite their difference in scent preferences, they found each other sniffing the same story. It was called The Adventures of Aqua Paws. Their tails wagged together as they shared shy glances. Mop, being a more assertive dog, nudged Puddle with his nose. Puddle, a little cautious at first, licked one of Mop’s ears.

After that, Puddle stuck close to Mop. She liked it when he sponged up her damp spots. Mop was glad to do it. He was falling in love with Puddle. And she was falling in love with him.

In the kitchen at the back of the Dog Library, two dogs known as the Scent Scribes worked as scent specialists. They consulted with Scout, the kitchen’s head chef, about the scents that should go in each story.

One of the stories was about a squirrel chase. The Scent Scribes went to work. They suggested adding the scent of forest aromas and hints of squirrel musk. Scout then added the scent of acorns.

Editing scents

Scout always used a lot of scents in his recipes. He thought dogs would have more story choices that way.

The Scent Scribes were pickier, like story editors. They thought fewer scents made a story smell stronger. So, they removed some of Scout’s scents from the scent pots. Then they added some of their own, especially red pencils, paper clips, and erasers.

Cleaning scents

The Scent Scribes were careful to suggest scents dogs would know – or would want to know. However, sometimes they suggested scents that didn’t go with Scout’s recipes.

Like cleaning supplies – rubbing alcohol, bleach, dish detergent, feather dusters. These scents didn’t belong in a story about wolf caves. But the Scent Scribes thought they would be good for cleaning other scents. Sort of like licking a new puppy’s eyes so they could see better.  

However, when they cleaned the scents, they also removed them. The scent of detergent removed the scent of leftover food. Bleach removed bath and shower scents, like rubber duckies and blueberry soap.

Feather dusters didn’t really clean, they just moved scents from one spot to another. But the scent of dust bunnies stayed where it was. This made it easy for dogs to find and sniff them. They could always sniff the dust mites too.

Fairy dust was different. It was sweet and light and it couldn’t be removed. The Scent Scribes used it for things like magic carpets. Or stories about curing insomnia.

Written by the Crafty Canine

This morning I passed by a mirror and saw some gray hair on my face. It was under my chin too. I heard this happens to old dogs. Even young dogs.

I’ll tell you another thing that happened. My mother started giving me icky dog food. She said I was getting a little fat. The new me. Gray and fat.

I can’t always remember the commands she taught me either. Like the word stay. I’m not sure what that means, since I’m too slow to go anywhere very far now.

Have you heard people say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? That’s simply not true. Not for me anyway. Last week I learned how to balance a cheerio on my nose. It took me awhile to get it right, but now I’m pretty good at it. For an old dog, anyway.

Another trick? I hide in the car when my mother’s not looking. But these days it’s not as easy to jump in there. I’ve gotten pretty clumsy in my old age.

I hope she doesn’t give me away like my last family did. I couldn’t help it if I was getting bigger.

But she doesn’t seem to mind that I’m getting a little gray and a little fat. I know she loves me anyway. Except for that icky dog food.

I don’t know about other dogs, but I think all punctuation is optional. If I spend too much time figuring out which one to use and where it should go, it slows down my writing. So I usually skip it altogether. Or I make up my own.

Worms and balls

To me, punctuation looks like a bunch of worms and balls. There are some fun ones and some boring ones. If I use punctuation at all, I only use the ones I like.

My favorite is the semicolon. It has a fat worm on the bottom and a ball at the top. My mother said people don’t use it much anymore; but I do. I like the way it looks.

The question mark is also fun. It looks like a squiggly worm with a ball at the bottom instead of the top. I use it all the time, even if it’s not right?

My least favorite is the period. It’s just a single ball, which is too boring for me. If I need something to go at the end of a sentence, I use other types of punctuation instead. Like the question mark?

Or the ellipses. It has three balls in a row instead of just one. I use it when I’m not sure if a sentence is finished or not…

The exclamation mark is also a good choice. A lot of people use it instead of a period. Sometimes they use two or three. I guess that makes sentences seem more important!!!

Punctuation for dogs

I like to make up my own punctuation. I use it more that way. I also invent the rules. My mother calls it creative punctuation. I call it punctuation for dogs.