The family that this dog was adopted into had four members. Sarge, Lt. Linda, PFC Trent and little Glenn. The dog was a pet of another man human that was very sick and had to go to a hospital. The nurse human (Lt. Linda) could not bear to have the dog left alone at the apartment, knowing that the landlord would just call the dog pound and have him put away, so she put the dog in her car and took him home. And now we get the dogs side of the story.
"My master just laid there on the bed, he didn't move when I licked his hand. He didn't get up and take me outside. He didn't feed me. I was getting scared. I also was feeling guilty because I had to mess up the hall way. Then the door opened and the nurse human came in. She has been coming to take care of my master for years. I like her. She put that collar around my masters arm like she always does, but this time she went to the noise thing in the kitchen and talked into it. She seemed very upset. We dogs can tell when the humans are upset. Not too long later a red truck came and some men humans took my master off his bed and put him on another bed and put him in the red truck. I wanted to go but the men humans would not let me. Then the house was very quiet and the nurse human just sat there and petting my head. Then she got up and said that I was going home with her. That was alright with me, I was hungry and maybe she would have some food. When she put me in her car I was scared but she went back to the house and brought my bed and my toys and put them in the back seat with us. That made me feel better and I laid quietly on the seat as she drove.
We got to the nurse humans house and she took me into the house and there was another man human there. He yelled at me when I licked his hand and yelled at the nurse human. Then the nurse human said something to him about my master and he stopped yelling and looked at me a real long time. Then he said something that made the nurse human happy, and she took me upstairs and fed me. I decided that I would make the best of it, but that man human yelling was not good. I had a terrier friend that told me that when man humans yell they will hit you. So I kept a watch on him when ever he was in the room.
There were other man humans in the house and the woman human took me to them and told me their names. I like the Trent human, he had a little beard and long hair. He took me outside and I showed him how I could do tricks that my master taught me. He was so happy when I brought back a toy he threw. He called the big man human upstairs and showed him how I could do tricks. The big man human didn't yell at me, so he must have liked my tricks. For the next three days I was treated so well by everyone, but the big man human ignored me. So I decided to try to be nice to him. I would let him play games and fetch things. I brought my red rubber ball over to where he was sitting and put it on the floor in front of him. It took a while cause he just sat and looked at me like he was trying to make up his mind or something, then finally he picked up the ball and threw it down the hall. There may be some hope for this human, he learned that trick pretty fast. For a long time (in dog time) we played with the red ball, and I was having fun. Finally the man human set back in his couch and started yelling. I was backing out of the room when the woman human called down to him and shut him up. He then grumbled and mumbled and then got my leash and some of my toys and took me outside. I love the yard of these new humans. It is so big, and has all kinds of things to play with. I did lots of tricks for the big man human and fetched sticks and balls until my jaw was sore. But it did seem to make the big man human happy. Score one for me.
It seemed that I was just visiting this family until one day when the family tore up paper and threw it all over the front room and were laughing and happy. They each were opening boxes and holding strange things in their hands and had big smiles on their face. I don't know what they were doing but the woman human had a little box and she gave it to me. So I tore the paper off like they did and found a new chew toy in the paper. I love it, it makes a squeek when you bite it. Everyone seemed so happy and even the big man human was smiling and did not yell at anyone.
The man human Trent took me to a big yard with a fence around it, and I soon saw it had lots of dogs like me in it. There was a dog I remember from where I used to live and it was fun running and barking with him. A scotty dog came up to me and said. "I don't remember ever smelling you, are you new to this neighborhood?" He was very polite and I told him about my master and how this new family took me home. We talked and he asked me about my new humans. I told him that the big man human smelled like gun oil, grease, gasoline, sawdust and gun powder smoke. (don't lick his hands) The woman human smelled like food, spices, soap and had clean hands all the time. (If you lick her hands she will give you a beggin' strip) The other man human, Trent, was fun and liked to run with me and toss me things to catch, I like him the best. The woman human feeds me and puts clean water out for me, she talks to me a lot too. I like her too. The other man human was small and I can sense he is afraid of dogs so I just leave him alone. The scotty and I talked for a long time and then a big dog came up to us and I could see right away he was trouble. The first thing he did was push me and knocked me down. I didn't like that and I growled a warning at him. He laughed and said he could bite me in two pieces with one snap. I decided to use another trick my old master taught me. I can stand on my back legs and that makes me real tall. So I stood up and took a big bite out of the nose of the big dog. He yippped and ran around in circles. A big fat woman human came running over to us and was yelling FIFI, FIFI, ARE YOU HURT? The scotty looked at me and I looked at him. Then we both busted out laughing. "FiFi? your name is FiFi, big dog?" All the dogs in the pen were laughing and barking. The big bully dog slinked away with his tail between his legs. That was a memorial day and I made lots of new friends. All in all I guess things are working out just fine, thanks to the nice nurse human. If she had not taken me home I would be dead or homeless now.
Oh and the big man human that yelled at my house. He is not yelling any more and he calls me OUR dog now. I think I have a family at last.
Duke the dog.
The dog whisperer said that the dog was happy now and he would be a fine member of the family for many dog years. As I related this to the dogs family they all were happy and the big man even smiled. But I was not sure he believed a word the dog barked.
The end