Reiley’s Bark
Why do humans not like it when we talk out loud?
Dear Sasha,
Everything is growing around here at the rate of the sun rise back home. Here, the light grows very slowly through the dawn, not like the sudden change where you are, and Wow! Green, green green like the brown never existed.
The children come home from school and we go out to play in the yard for hours. It almost seems like there is a whole other day, the light lasts so long. They are talking about days soon when there won’t be school and we’ll play like that from the moment they fall out of their beds to the moment they drop back in. I can’t wait!
I saw that smidgen of a male dog walking past our house and leaving his scent on our lawn. I was in the front window since I’m not allowed to go in the front yard without a leash. I barked to let him know whose scent he was detecting over his last marker. I wasn’t being unfriendly, but I do want to meet him and give him the once-over before I decide how friendly to be.
Well, that barking was a mistake. The father was home. He came down the stairs yelling as loud as I was barking, telling me to be quiet. The children scurried into their rooms and I was dragged down into the dark place beneath the house.
This place is much bigger than the last house and I don’t have to sit beside the roary thing. It isn’t pleasant though and I know I was being punished. Why do humans not like it when we talk out loud? Honestly, I talk silently with my body, and with sounds they don’t respond to. They just don’t get it. Then when I talk out loud they don’t get that either and they make noises that upset me. Have you had this experience?
My food has changed again. The food I ate at home, my first home, didn’t come with us but what I changed to was a whole lot better than what I have now. At first I didn’t eat it, but you know how hungry a dog can get. The mother said something about money being “tight.” The father spends a lot of time with papers, chewing on a pencil. We know not to bother him.
The upshot is, we eat lower quality food. The children grumble too. The mother freezes the milk and when it thaws there are floating flecks of fat in it. The children pour it on my food when the mother isn’t looking and I’m more than happy to take care of it!
Is this what happens when people move? When we first came everyone seemed to get through the initial hard times with the hope that it would get better. Some things got worse.
And then we go out in the yard and play until it gets dark and forget all the hard things. There is a large area for playing ball and a tree for the children to climb and beetles to catch and rocks to pile up and make roads for their little cars. And those fluffy critters with bushy tails are all over the place. Rabbits too!
And that smidgen dog that I’ll bark at no matter what.
Write soon!
love, Reiley
Dear Reiley,
Well, life is a mixed bag. Good things happen at the same time as bad things, not alternately. Humans like them to be distinct, but I’ve seen good things turn into bad things and the other way around.
What can a dog do? You are made to express the emotions of the family and to protect them. Bark even when they don’t understand because that will keep the bad people away. The bad dogs too. Your humans will probably not thank you, and might punish you for helping them. They are contrary animals and it is no use trying to understand them. Just keep helping them.
It is wet around here. Rainy season. Beska’s puppies are growing strong and she lets us play with them. I convinced her that she could not do it all on her own and the little ones will be better helpers to their humans if they get squashed by a few more dogs before they go away.
She burst into tears. She doesn’t like the idea of her babies going out into the cruel world of humans. I told her that her owners will take good care to choose good owners for her children.
Thank you for your letters. Keep them coming!
love, Sasha
