My Life

My Life

or

The World is Full of Wonderful Smells

Recently I talked with my neighbor and friend Rex about our lives. I was totally shocked to hear that he has lived in the same house ever since he was nine weeks old. How can a dog stand living in the same place for so long?! His biggest adventure was when he ran away from home and got lost. He didn't even get out of the little town we live in! What a boring life! I decided right then and there that I would write a book about the adventures I've had. Hopefully it will convince him to explore this world too. At least he will have a few exciting moments reading this. I always feel so sorry for him when I hear him whine because he's bored once again. How can anyone bear to live that way?

During my early puppyhood I lived with a kind, old lady, with my mother, and two siblings. We lived in a nice, big house with a lot of rooms for us puppies to run through. We would chase each other up and down the stairs, and the lady would laugh when one of us slipped and skidded a few steps. She was very kind to all of us and we were always well fed. My mother was a very beautiful dog. She had a long silky tail and big silky ears, perfect for us puppies to tug on. I also loved to play with my siblings. It was really nice always having someone there who loved me. Of course I also had to learn my lessons like every decent dog. Mom taught us the rules of living in a pack like respecting her, the pack leader. Then we also learned to hunt. This was really fun. She would pretend to be prey and we would have to chase her, so soon we knew all of the hunting tactics. Unfortunately I never got to try them out on real prey. I really loved my lessons, except those of the pack leader: I wasn't allowed to eat until Mom was done. I wasn't even allowed to chew on her bone! I decided to become a pack leader too. What fun to have all of those privileges.

Over all, I had a great puppyhood. There was one thing I didn't like at all: I wasn't allowed to leave the house. It was big, but there just weren't any new smells. I wanted to smell life to its fullest! So one night I slipped out of an open window and left my puppyhood behind. I went out to explore the real world!

It was simply overwhelming! There were more different smells than I ever imagined existing! It was pretty frightening too, but I never was a dog to chicken out that easily. I tackled the big, wonderful world of smells. It was so much different than I had thought. I knew that I had a lot to learn, but that didn't make me turn around. I had always dreamed about adventure, so why should I turn now?

So here I was, a young dog smelling the big world for the first time. No wonder I was scared to death when a big, roaring, and stinking thing rattled right by me. I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me. After a long time I stopped, out of breath. Was this a monster? The old lady had told us stories about monsters and these things fitted the description pretty well. I thought about home, my mother, the old lady, and my siblings. What were they doing now? What the hell..? I didn't leave the house behind to turn back right away! There were so many things for me to discover. "Don't step back now, move on!" I thought to myself, and so I did.

Soon I felt tired. I lay down and was asleep before I knew it. But not for lon. All too soon one of those monsters I already described roared by me. It didn't come close to me, so I just slept on. I temporarily checked them off as harmless, and even when they started to rattle by constantly, I didn't budge. I could check them out next morning.

When I woke up, it was day and not far from me there were people hurrying around and monsters hurrying right next to them. I was hungry, so I went to search for some food. There was a very strong smell coming out of an open door. I waited until there weren't as many monsters passing by and then I ran across the place where they were rattling through. I had quickly noticed that they all rattled by in the same place, so they probably couldn't harm me if I stayed out of their way. Once on the other side, I slipped through the door where that wonderful smell came from .

I got a bad surprise while I was eating some good food I had found in the house. A lady entered the room. I expected her to be friendly like everyone I had met so far, but I was very wrong. As soon as she saw me, she grabbed the closest object and threw it at me. I was so surprised that I dropped the stuff I was eating and ran out as fast as I could. That was a very bad mistake, because I still was hungry. Ever since, I've always taken as much as I could with me and carried it away to some safe place to eat. So still hungry, I went to find something else. Luckily I found a big can with some food in it. Those cans are always very welcome to a hungry dog and I'm glad I noticed that so early. It certainly is the easiest way to get food.

My hunger satisfied, I went on to find some more interesting smells. I was quite puzzled when I met a big creature that smelled like dog, acted like dog, but was way bigger than my siblings or my mother. Of course I didn't know that almost all dogs are bigger than we are. This first dog I met was very nice. We greeted each other in the usual fashion and went our ways. I can imagine how life would be now if that first dog would have been mean like some dogs I've met later. I would be afraid of all dogs, wouldn't have met Rex, and I wouldn't be writing this now. How terrible!

Well, back to the story. It was getting towards evening and I was hungry again. I didn't find any food cans, so I had to think of something else. A man was eating a sandwich not far from me. It smelled so good. Forgetting the mean lady of the morning I stood on my hind legs to smell the sandwich a bit better. I find it very important to know exactly what is in the food I eat, or, in this case, in the food I would like to eat. I was also hoping that I might be able to grab a piece and run away, but that wasn't necessary. The man was so kind that he gave me a big part of his bread. (I've noticed that people often give me food if I stand on my hind legs. I wonder why.)

When I was full I searched for a nice place to rest and thought about all those wonderful and not so wonderful things I had learned that day. I thought about how nice it would be to show all of these things to my siblings; after all, I was now an expert on surviving on my own.

Oh how very wrong was I. There were still so many things to learn. I noticed this the first thing next morning. It started when I was still sleeping peacefully. Suddenly I heard some growling. My nose, quickly working, smelled a dog, so I thought everything was all right. I had never met a mean dog so far. I was very surprised when I suddenly got snapped at. Did this dog really mean me with his growling? I wasn't doing anything wrong! Shocked and scared I ran away as fast as I possibly could. The other dog left me enough time to escape. I was very relieved, since I certainly didn't appreciate her company. Later I decided that I probably had been sleeping in her cave. It had smelled so nicely of dog and, being a bit lonely, it had comforted me. Ever since I have avoided these places and similar trouble.

This was a shock, but I got an even greater one. I had gotten some food from people the way I had the day before (by sniffing), so I was walking along quite contently. I met a dog and with no bad intentions I walked up to him. He was the cool kind of type, whose expression is very hard to read, so it's no wonder I was surprised when he snapped and growled at me. What had I been doing wrong this time?! I lay on my back, the way I had always done when mom was angry. It worked to cool him off too. After stalking around me a few times and proudly sniffing his prey he left me alone, luckily unharmed. I thought about this once more a bit later. "Either I have to turn on my back every time I see a dog, or I have to scare it first. I've always wanted to be a pack leader. Wouldn't intimidating my fellow dogs be a first step? I'll scare all of them! They'll be afraid to hurt me! Either scare them or get eaten!" This turned out to be a good motto. Almost all of them accepted me as their leader, so I was left alone most of the time.

Then there were cats! The first time I met one I was friendly in an interested sort of way. But of course cats simply can't be friendly. As soon as it noticed that I had never seen one of it's kind before, it was delighted. What a great chance for it to get a dog angry with the certainty of being able to get away unharmed. Without hesitating it started to tease me and quickly got me roaring, but it nicely stayed out of my reach. They're just terrible creatures! I wish I could set my teeth in one of them.

Soon I got used to life on the go. I loved all the city smells and I easily managed to dominate my dog peers and to get food from people. One day I still remember clearly because I learned a new lesson:

I was proudly walking down the street. After eating I had broken up a fight between two dogs by dominating both of them. Being very proud of that, I thought I knew everything about my kingdom of the roads. Then, very unexpectedly, a group of humans came up to me and caught me. I had always been cautious towards people, but I never would have dreamt that they could be so cruel. They tied up my front paws and threw me into the river! What had I been doing wrong? I had just stopped two dogs from hurting themselves and since that first day, I haven't been steeling anymore. How could anyone be so terribly unfair? I've thought about this a lot ever since, but it seems impossible to find an answer. Luckily, I was able to get out of the river. After hours of chewing on the strings I could also free myself. I'm so glad I didn't drown.

The next exciting thing was when I got my first heat. It was funny having all these male dogs walking after me. I enjoyed the fuss in the beginning, but soon grew tired of it. After all, these dogs weren't interested in me. Their only worry was which one of them I would choose. None of them even noticed that they were all way too big for mates anyway. But I can't complain. After all, they're just males: maybe nice to look at, but totally useless. After a week I was rid of the pests. It was lovely being on my own again, but I still was a bit lonely.

Then came one of the most wonderful days of my life. A really friendly man asked me to stay with him. I was overjoyed to have found a friend again and willingly accepted. How nice to live in a warm place with plenty of food and a master who loved me! We had a great time together. Then he went away. I was terrified! Would he ever return? After what seemed days to me, he did. He smelled a bit different, acted a bit different, what did I care! The next day he left again, but this time I wasn't afraid so much. Soon this became routine and I had learned to enjoy my time alone.

One day he smelled much stronger of that weird stuff when he came home. I greeted him the same way I always did, but I guess that smell was more important than I had dared to think. He had a sudden outburst of anger and started throwing all kinds of things at me. Terrified, I ran through the door he had left open, into my own home of the streets.

Easy times were over and I had to take care of myself again. In a way I enjoyed having all of the responsibilities back, but I missed having a friend. Hadn't I been living alone long enough? A few times I went to the house of my master, but always afraid he would be in that weird mood, I never entered. Soon I had gotten used to the street life again. I didn't stay there for long however.

I was patrolling my territory when I got caught in a net by a nasty smelling guy. He threw me into a cage on wheels with some other dogs in it. We all were scared to death, having lived on the street most of our lives. This was kind of good since street dogs often don't get along too well, but being in the same situation we stuck together. I never saw a fight in the following, terrible days, except over food, where understandably every dog will only think of him or herself. The cage started moving. When we stopped, the man grabbed each of us, forced a tag around our necks, and kicked us into a bigger cage containing more dogs. There, everything had the same unidentifiable, nasty smell. There was some stale water, but no food. The dogs were just lying around doing nothing. It was simply terrible. Since there was nothing to do, I followed their example and slept too. <

I have no idea how long I was in there. A couple of times the guy threw in some food. I was very hungry, but after I had felt how these sleepy dogs could fight, I was content with the tiniest crumbs. Being the smallest dog, I was happy no one decided to eat me for a snack. Apart from feeding that same guy came in every day to check our tags. Some he took away, others he left. New ones came in every day to fill the places of the ones gone. I don't know where they went. I don't want to know where they went. What good can it be to get taken away by a nasty smelling guy. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be writing this if I'd had to follow the others. But luckily a miracle happened.

One day two ladies came in. The ones who weren't crazy yet by living in this filthy, dark hole crowded around them. They handed out food for all of us, but most important of all, they brought in that nice, fresh smell of the outside world which I had almost forgotten. They packed some of the still lively ones into a cage on wheels. This time I wasn't afraid at all. These people were friendly, I had a full stomach for the first time in... I don't know how long, and best of all, everything had that fresh smell. Even though we were cramped in this small cage, it seemed like freedom after the place we were coming from.

Then we got off the cage and the ladies gave each one of us a good bath. I was and still am afraid of water ever since I almost drowned, but I was very glad to get rid of that nasty smell. Now there was nothing but memories of that terrible place I had been in. In short: my future began to smell better and better.

I got a comfortable cage with the luxuries of clean water, a bed, and food. I loved that cage I didn't have to share with anyone, and I defended it with pride! The people who were taking care of me would laugh, but I didn't mind. This was the first time I had anything of my own, so I wouldn't have given it away for any price. After a while I was allowed to meet other dogs and go on short walks with them. During the day I could sit in the sun with some of my friends, and at night I enjoyed my nice and cozy bed. At that time I surely would have laughed at anyone telling me that life could be better. But I was wrong.

One morning the nice people took me out of my bed, but not to be with the others as I had expected. I got transferred to a little cage and inside another big one with wheels, and got driven away from my home and friends. There were two other young dogs in a box next to mine. I remember having smelled them before and maybe met them a couple of times, but I didn't know them well. Still, they obviously must have lived quite close for some time now. After a while they took us out of the big cage, leaving us in our little, private ones. We were hauled around quite a bit in a huge building with tons of people. There were thousands of smells everywhere. We met a few other dogs, all of them also in private cages. Then all of us dogs were finally settled in a dark corner and the people left. There were boxes all around us. The air was hot and dry. Suddenly the floor began to shake. A very loud noise had started at the same time. Soon a disgusting smell spread through everything. This must have been hell. I don't really know what hell is, but people always talk about it as being terrible, and I can't imagine anything more frightening. Then on top of it all, it started to get colder and colder. We were shivering away in our cages when after a few big bumps the whole thing settled again. I had lived through hell and I am still proud of it! How many dogs can say that?

A lot of people must have survived too, if they were along with us, because soon people came and carried us off into another one of those over-dimensional, stuffed buildings. We were all driven off into different directions on little carts.

After a while, someone I didn't know took me out of my cage. It was a girl and I knew right away that this was the friend I had been longing for all my life. Happily we went to her house, where I still live now, and greeted the rest of her family. But now don't you go thinking I have a boring life like my poor neighbor Rex. No! I go out a few times a day with my family, often visit my adopted cousin Ginger in Zurich, and sniff something new almost every day! I love my life and I have no intention of dying until I've sniffed every inch of this world!