A paw wrapped itself, with malice aforethought, around Fox's neck. Fox screamed as the paw lifted him high up off the ground and the face of a very annoyed bloodhound looked him in the eyes.
"Hello Fox!" Dog greeted him, a hint of a growl in the back of his throat.
Fox gulped. "Hello Dog," he replied, meekly.
Dog smiled. His white teeth caught the sun's rays and sparkled viciously.
"What do you think you were doing?" asked Dog.
"Er...taking my morning stroll, Dog," Fox answered, putting on an innocent look.
Dog nodded. "And morning strolls involve jumping over me now, do they?"
Fox was speechless; this was because Dog was choking him.
"How many times do we have to go through this?" Dog growled at him. "Every morning it's the same. I come home from a long night on the howl and I'm just dropping off when - boing! A great lumox of a fox comes jumping over me. It's not on Fox! I thought we'd got this straight yesterday when I tied your tail to the tree!"
Fox was turning a fetching shade of purple.
Dog sighed. "We'll give it one more go shall we?"
Fox nodded furiously.
"Now as we discussed yesterday," began Dog, "no longer is it 'The quick, brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' it's now 'The quick, brown, but cautious, fox - on it's morning stroll - meanders, NOT jumps, quietly around the very tired, out all night, certainly not lazy, dog or said fox gets its head ripped off! Understand now?"
Fox squealed, "Yes!" and Dog released his grip. Fox fell to the grass and lay there for a moment until colour came back into his cheeks and he managed to get his breath back.
"You may go now," said Dog, yawning and settling back down in front of his kennel.
Fox got up, looked at Dog, shrugged and padded off to the other side of the garden.
Dog opened one eye to see Fox disappear through a hole in the fence.
"See you tomorrow," he sighed as he drifted off to sleep.