My First Night

Life in that whelping box was a pile of puppies. Usually, Mom was there and when she was—yum! Warm milk slid right down my throat and into my belly until I fell asleep from being too full. My nose led me around, and everywhere I could smell my pack, but especially my Mom. Mom=warm yummy milk=comfort=full belly=sleep.

Then one day my eyes opened and WOW! There’s a lot more than my nose could read. All kinds of shapes and big moving things like the nice lady and the mastiffs. And then we could play. I love to play. I would play all the time if I could. We started to go outside and learn how to pee in leaves.

Soon I could run and jump and went outside all the time with my brothers and sister. One of those days two very nice people came and met me. They kissed me and held me and then they PUT ME IN THEIR CAR! I didn’t know what to think, but it was scary, scary, scary. Where was my Mom? Where were my brothers and sister? I was so scared, and the new lady held me and talked to me, but I just drooled. We rode in that car a long, long time. I drooled the whole way.

Finally, we got to a house and stopped. And the man and lady, who I found out were A and B carried me up a whole bunch of stairs and into a house and we played all day. I even got my own bedroom. Pretty soon my brothers and sister and Mom sorta faded away. I had a blanket with Mom’s smell in my bedroom to remind me, which was nice. I pushed my nose into that blanket and sniffed in nice and deep. It put me sleep every time. And A and B gave me food and took me outside and played with me and then it got dark.

They put me in my cave and closed the door. Okaaaaaay. Then they left. I could hear them talking. The house was dark. Where was everybody? A whine started to form in my chest. I couldn’t hold it in. The whine pushed its way out and I started to panic. WHERE IS EVERYBODY???? I’M ALL ALONE!!!

They underestimated me. Soon the whine became a cry and then the cry became a yowl, and I yowled as hard as I could. Nature has blessed my breed with a really big voice so that people and sheep listen to us. By now, I was in full-blown panic, and I knew I would die right there, all alone. Then suddenly, there was a rattle and a dark shape and B was opening my cave. She picked me up and I stopped, and she took me into their cave and put me right in their bed. I fell asleep right away between them. Dogs are smart.

I woke up and had to pee and it was still dark. I whined a little and B picked me up and carried me outside and down all those stairs and put me in the leaves. Peeeeee. She said I was a Good Boy. Then she picked me up again and carried me upstairs to their bed. I hugged them both and soon after fell asleep. I decided I like living here—a lot.