Black & White Argyle

Friday, August 29, 2014

Puking Puppies

When I was around 4 or 5 years old our dog, Taffy, had puppies. (At least, I think it was Taffy. Or was Taffy a boy? Oh dear, this post could quickly get complicated.) 

ANYWAY, we had a dog and it had puppies, and we put them in a box with an old blanket and let their mommy take care of them. She was a good mommy and let me hold those little puppies as much as I wanted and for as long as I wanted. They were so cute, and I loved to watch them try to open their eyes and see the world around them. 

One particular day (when my BFF Shauna and I were bored, of course), we went downstairs to play with the puppies. We took them out of their box and put them on my sister's water bed. Their eyes were opening more, and they were starting to walk around more and play with each other, but they were still pretty new. Their mommy was somewhere, so we were free to do with the puppies whatever we wanted. 

Soon enough, the water bed took over. We jiggled, bounced, jostled, rolled, and surfed those puppies around that bed. They loved it! (Remember: I was 4-5 and not fully aware of "dog emotions" at this point.) We stopped the fun and went to take the puppies off the bed and return them to their box when all of a sudden - PUKE. 

Puke was all over the bed, but mostly by my sister's pillow. We had thrown the covers back (duh!) in order to keep the pups from getting "tangled" in them during their adventure. I looked at Shauna, Shauna looked at me, and then we picked up the pups, placed them in their box, and I threw the covers up over the bed. We quickly left the room and went outside to play. 

If I remember correctly, it was a while later that Shauna turned to me and said, "Ew. That was gwoss. And we're gonna be in twouble." With a pit developing in my stomach I assured her it would be fine and not to worry about it. After all, I could fake sick and sleep with Mom and Dad that night so as to avoid the ensuing tears and screaming that would assuredly come from leaving dog vomit on my sister's bed. 

Sure enough, there was screaming and a few tears, but I was off the hook. My sister blamed the dog for bringing her puppies up on the bed. Boy, did that dog get an earful! Poor dog. I did give her an extra long hug that night and told her and her puppies how much I loved them all. I even rubbed her ears to block out the ringing that must have been going on after the high-pitched screaming. 

I have no idea what covered the bed that night as we slept since the sheets were in the wash. I was just glad the screaming and yelling hadn't been at me. I still thank that dog for covering up my silly antics. Too bad she didn't know what the heck was going on. She must have been so confused! 

Just a few years ago, I made plans to get up really early one Fall morning and take Bear with me up the canyon to catch pictures of the sunrise. We had a grand time. He peed all over everything, marked his territory like a champ, and we ate all sorts of snacks as we walked around taking pictures of trees, leaves, the lake, and the sunrise. Since we were already on a new adventure, I thought we should take advantage of our time together and decided to travel up and over the mountain and return home the long way. Bear kept getting antsy and moving around the front seat. He'd never done that before, so I thought maybe the altitude must be getting to him. 

We finally got home several hours (and hundreds of pictures) later. I opened the car door to let Bear run free for a bit. He walked across the driveway and headed straight for the lawn. Next thing I hear is: guh guh BLEGH. Bear hurled his guts out on the grass. Poor little guy was motion sick, hence the moving around the front seat. He was holding it all in so he didn't mess up the upholstery in my car! After several rounds of dry-heaving, we finally went in the house where he assumed the position of a curled up ball and slept the rest of the day. He refused to eat anything and only drank when I reminded him there was water available. It was so sad!!! 

All I could think about were those puking puppies from years ago. None of them are probably alive today, but I felt awful for putting them through such innocent torture (is that an oxymoron?) years ago. Bear has had a semi-sensitive tummy since that time, so I'd like to apologize now to the families that adopted those puppies years ago and say that I sincerely hope your puppy didn't have tummy troubles because of me. 

Can you imagine what kind of mother I would be?! *shudder*