I’m the Crafty Canine. I know how to read and write stories. But most dogs can’t, so I had the idea of starting a dog library – a library just for dogs, where stories had scents instead of words.
Dogs wouldn’t read with their eyes, but with their noses.
A pup partner
But first I needed a pup partner, a dog who could add scents to stories. Scents that were familiar enough for dogs to recognize, yet unfamiliar enough to make the story interesting.
A Border Collie I knew named Scout was always sniffing things – all kinds of things. You could say he was something of a scent expert. He could even smell the difference between a fork and a spoon. And he loved recipes.
Scout would be the perfect pup partner.
Story scent lists
Scout and I brainstormed about the dog library in a dog kind of way, rubbing our heads together and barking. We decided to practice making scent lists to go with my stories.
The first story went like this: “The slug ate the basil plant.”
I knew that was a very short story, but I thought we should start with something simple. Then we could try novels.
The basil part of the story was easy. I wrote ‘basil’ on the scent list.
Slug? I didn’t know that one, even though I wrote it. Scout said we should use a scent that smelled like slime. So I wrote ‘slime’ on the list.
Scout was more worldly than I was when it came to scents, probably because he traveled so often with his humans. He suggested this short story: “The airplane landed in Rome.”
I had no idea what Rome smelled like. But Scout came up with scents of pasta sauce, cigarettes, and chocolate pastries. For the airplane, he suggested stale air and jet fuel. I put those scents on the list.
Next, we needed a way to get all the scents.
Scents for Canines
Scout knew of a store called Scents for Canines. It had everything smelly, including a growing assortment of scents.
A Standard Poodle named Margaret was in charge of the store. She was very organized and helpful. Scout thought she’d make a good dog librarian.
Margaret took us to the perfect place for a dog library. It was a cozy wooden building with a sloping roof, and its windows were decorated with pawprint curtains. She said it once belonged to a canine support group, but they left. Maybe they all got supported.
The first thing we did was put a sign on the door.
“Dogs only. Humans not allowed.”
But Margaret didn’t think we should leave humans out. You never knew when they’d come in handy. So we changed it.
“Humans not allowed unless you come with treats and toys, or scents.”
