Oscar's A Big Dog Now!

1,158 Words


Oh Boy, the lights just came on and here come the humans. I like it when the humans come because they always let me out of my cage while they tidy it up.

The two humans always treat me nice, but today one of them looks sad when she looks at me.

"Go ahead boy, go stretch your legs and say hello to your friends."

I scamper down to the end cage where this older dog lives. Along the way I notice some of the cages are empty. I wonder where they went?

"Hey kid, come over here, I gotta tell you something.'"

He's never spoken to me before, this must be something pretty darn important; so I have a seat on the cold hard floor. "Okay, I'm all ears."

"Today is my last day, so I wanted to give you some advice."

"I don't know what advice is, but I am willing to learn."

"If I don't go with the humans today, I'm  finished. And I don't mean the one's that clean our cages, I mean the other humans, the one's that look us over and then move on to the next dog. You follow me?"

"No, but I hear something scary in your voice, like you're afraid or something."

All of a sudden he shakes his head and then slams one of his paws down really hard. "Of course I'm afraid, and you should be too."

"But why? What's going to happen to you if you don't find some nice humans?"

"I heard they make you go to sleep, only they never wake you again. I don't want to sleep like that, I want to go out and play, and chew on some shoes or something. On second thought, never mind the shoes, I think that's what got me in here in the first place."

I like to sleep, but I like to get up in the morning too. He said he has some advice for me. I wish he would get to it before I have to go back to my cage. "So what the advice you have for me? Is it something I can use or eat or something?"

"No kid you can't eat advice you have to accept it for what it is, and here it is. If you don't get out of here today, then tomorrow will be your last day, so this is what you have to do."

I schooch up closer so I don't miss a word. He stares into my eyes and I start to get scared. My tummy starts trembling and I can't stop it.

"Kid! Stop shaking and listen good. You are a cute little puppy, but you don't do anything when the humans come by. You just lay there and snooze. Nobody wants a puppy like that! You have to be playful. You have a ball in your cage?"

"Yeah, a really cool yellow ball, it tastes icky, but I like to chew on it and one day I'm going to get the whole ball in my mouth."

"Now that's the stuff you have to do when the humans come by. Most of the humans have little humans that like to play, and they want a dog that will play with them. That's the kind of dog you have to be if you ever want to get out of here, so when those humans come by you have to put on your best stuff. Be a real fun dog so that they just can't leave without you."

I feel a pairs of hands around my tummy and I'm lifted off the floor before I can say goodbye to my friend. It's the sad human and she hugs me and kisses me, and when I look at her, I see water streaming down her face. I've never seen water come from a human's face. She places me back in my cage and pats me on the head. I try to pat her on the head, but she turns away too soon. 

I hear a lot of noise and human's laughing so I go right into my act. I pounce on the ball and try to chew it to bits and guess what? One of the little humans starts laughing and pointing, then he says something to the bigger humans and they all smile. The next thing I know, the sad human unlocks my cage and lets me play with these humans. The man human rolls me on my back and tickles my tummy. My legs are going back and forth and I am having a good time with these humans they like me, they really, really like me and before I know it, the little human picks me up and starts marching toward the door yelling, Yay!

Then I see my friend, you know, the old dog? I have to do something, so I start barking and pushing until the little human drops me. I start scratching at his cage and barking and then I make a sound I never heard before. The lady human said I was crying and every time they try to pull me away I run back to his cage. The lady human and the little human tell the man human that he has to take my friend too, and the next thing I know, the little human, my old dog friend and I are inside this thing with windows and it moves really fast. My friend sticks his head out of one of the windows and is bitting at the wind. His big ears are flopping and he really looks happy for first time since I met him so I squeeze in next to him and join in. I've never felt anything like this before, but I know I want to do it as many times as I can.

The fast thing stops at this really big place and the little human tells us to get out and follow him. He leads us to this gate thing, and then he says my name is Oscar and my friend's name is Fred. I like my name and when he opens the gate thing, me and Fred start running and jumping and playing with the little human until the lady human calls all three of us in the house, but as soon as we get inside, I have the feeling that I have to poop. When I bend over and try to go, Fred says,

"No! Let me tell you how this is done. Go sit in front of the door and do that crying thing again; they'll know what to do."

So I do what Fred said and sure enough the little human opens the door to the play place. I sniff around outside until I find just the right spot and when I'm finished I look up, and all three humans are smiling at me and say,

"Oscar's a big dog now!"