Arf Arf! (That is a friendly hello to you who can�t understand dog talk). My name is Rosie and I am a small (26 lb.) Chow Mix (whatever that is). I really don�t know how old I am but three years ago a doctor said I was 2 so I guess I must be about 5 by now. (But I will soon be six.)
The first couple of years after I was born I lived in a place where they apparently didn�t like me very much. Seems like every time I turned around somebody was hitting me and yelling at me! One day I decided to just leave that place and was walking down the street minding my own business when some fool threw a net over me and then put me into a dirty old van. There were some other dogs in there too and they were crying. I tried to tell them everything would be OK, but I don�t think they were convinced. I wasn�t too sure myself, but I like to put up a brave front.
We finally got to a place where they put me in a small cage. I could hear other dogs yelling and crying, but I decided to be real calm and quiet. I was just sitting there like the little lady that I am when an old man and his pretty daughter came by and we all stared at each other for a few minutes. Then a nice girl came up, took me out of that cage and let the old man and his daughter take me for a walk. I heard his daughter say, �That�s the one!� Later that day, a lady came up to my cage and took me to another room. They stuck me with something sharp and then the first thing I knew I was getting real sleepy. When I woke up I was back in my cage and my tummy felt real funny. I think the nice lady must have put me back in the cage because I�m not a sleepwalker!
The next day that old man�s daughter showed up again. Right away I figured something must be up and sure enough it was. She carried me to her car and I put my head on her lap. It was so soft I went right back to sleep again! When I woke up she was carrying me into the biggest dog house I had ever seen. She gave me to the old man who started petting me gently and I knew right then and there that he loved me! I decided I would be real nice and bark once (only) to let him know when I needed to go outside. Then bark again to see if I could get back in. Sure enough he came a running and let me in. Now I have him well trained. He even thinks he�s the boss! When at first he tried to pat me on the head I cringed because I was so used to getting hit, but I�m over that now. I also taught him that I loved to be scratched on my tummy. When something he calls a thunderstorm happens at night it scares me and he puts me in the bed with him and holds me till I stop trembling.
The old man occasionally would take me over to his daughter�s house where she had a bunch of funny looking things she called �cats� and one huge thing she called a �Malamute�, but he looked like a dog to me. I thought we ought to get things started off right so I chased that sucker all over the yard till he learned who the boss was. Sometimes I would even let him chase me because I didn�t want to hurt his feelings.
A few months ago the old man took me to a place where there were a lot of dogs in cages. I thought �uh oh, I�m gone again!� But then they brought out this little bitty cute dog. I checked him out and he looked OK to me so I gave my approval and we took him to my big dog house with us. (The old man sleeps in my dog house too!) We named him �Jake�. For a while he was so dumb he made messes all over the house, but I finally taught him to go outside. He must be eating something real funny because now he is about four times bigger than me. He is a Golden Retriever and all I know about them is they get real big, kind of dumb and want to play all the time.
I�m still trying to teach him to bark when he needs to go outside and come back in, but he hasn�t caught on to that trick yet. He just waits on me to bark and then beats me to the door! I�m also trying to teach him to write too, but I think he would rather run than write! We now have a great big yard. I keep the squirrels out and Jake just runs around and around and sometimes I chase him just to remind him who the boss is here. Sometimes the old man throws things and Jake runs to get them. Jake is so dumb he brings them back to the old man, but the old man just does it again. Sometimes I think the old man is dumb too, but I don�t say anything to him because he feeds me�.and I don�t want to miss out on that!
I think it�s time for a nap now. All this typing has worn me out!
Love to All,
Rosie
Since Jake got to send in his story, I decided to do the same. Thanks,
Rosie(One of Doug's BestFriends)