Dog Tales: My First Road Trip
It was really scary.
That’s me and my siblings. My parent’s names are Honey Bee and Hardy (as in Tonka Trucks!). I look just like my Momma, ’cause both parents are also Tibbies. You’re probably thinking, what in blazes is a Tibbie? Right? I’m good at reading minds. The previous Tibbie in my current home was also telepathic…but I’ll let her write her own story and publish in a couple of weeks. Her name was Cindy. My name is Candy Girl.
Unlike my friend Whitney, who writes stories from the Great Beyond, I am still alive. Cindy will be writing her stories from that place too — whenever. She doesn’t communicate directly with me, but I’ve heard stories about her from my caretakers. Whitney talks to both of us — to me while I dream. He even taught me how to write. He’s still smart!!!
Tibbie is short-hand for Tibetan Spaniel: an ancient breed from several millennia ago. Tibbie breeders describe us as one-third dog, one-third monkey, one-third cat. I know it’s a perfect description of us, because we have characteristics from all three of these mammals.
I was born in the Poconos (Pennsylvania, in case you don’t know geography) and lived there in a household with a boat load of other dogs and 2 cats. Honey Bee had a litter at the same time as another dog called a Welsh Springer Spaniel had her pups. It was a little crazy when we all got let out of our crates at meal time or let out into the back yard to pee and poo.
I liked going into the yard, especially when it was snowing out. You know that my ancestors lived on high mountains in Tibet where there’s a lot of snow. Snow is marvelous. I have paws specially equipped for snow: fur grows between the pads. I also have dew claws on all of my legs, not just the hind legs. I. AM. SPECIAL (Whitney told me to say that!)
When I was about 9 months old, my caretakers transported me in a car to my current home. I didn’t like the ride and it was the first time that I was separated from my parents and siblings and all of those jumpy Springer Spaniels. I was scared.
They put a leash on me — something I had never experienced before when they let me out of the car to pee at a rest stop. I didn’t go, though. I didn’t know that’s what I was supposed to do, because I was so scared. Everything smelled different and looked different. I wanted my Momma. She was nowhere to be found. I wanted to play with those cats…they were my friends. The Springer Spaniels were just too big for me to play with, so I didn’t care that they weren’t in the car with these strange humans who put me in the car for hours on end.
We arrived at what is now my home. There was a crate waiting for me in the dining room. They took me out to the back yard and removed the leash. I walked around and sniffed here and there. But I didn’t pee. I was still very scared. My humans, Peter and Linda, introduced me to the water dish and food dish. I drank a little but I wasn’t at all hungry, after throwing up in the car. My tummy hurt and so did my heart. I really missed those cats.
I was a country gal in my first home in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Now, I am a city girl. I didn’t like the city at first, but now, I’ve come to love city life. There are so many human and doggie friends and NO SPRINGER SPANIELS. YEAH.
I’ve tried to make friends with the neighborhood cats, but they just don’t like me. I don’t understand it at all. When my caretakers took me into Ellis’ house — he lives just across the street — to see if I could make friends with his cats, they just scurried up the staircase as if they saw a monster or a ghost. If they only knew that I was one-third cat, they probably would have accepted me as a friend.
Do you think I look like a monster? Let me know in the comments section below.
The next story that I write will be about a game that I invented for my humans. Yep, I invented a game. I have them well trained.
© Linda A. Robinson July 30, 2018
