Summertime Pet Stories

On my way to work yesterday the morning dj team of the station I listen to were welcoming callers to relate their funniest pet stories. One of my faves was submitted by the caller who said she'd come home from work one afternoon to find the family's new kitten curled up in her Waterford cyrstal bowl, which was located in direct line with a nice, warm, Florida sunbeam. It made me chuckle, and caused me to reflect on my own pet stories. I've got quite a few, but probably the one that sticks out the most is the time my schnauzer, Luppet, buried her shirt.

I'd planned the pool party for weeks, and had a nice gathering 'round the pool on the deck. My sister and brother-in-law were visiting from PA, and mutual friends of ours were among the guests. My friend, Bennett, was in attendance, along with her two pet dogs who are friends of my two dogs. The foursome routinely have playdates and sleepovers, just as though they were our kids. Afterall, they ARE our kids, aren't they, only they happen to wear fur coats year-round. Anyroad, the tiki torches were going, the margaritas were flowing, Jimmy Buffett was bellowing from the boombox, had the plastic pink flamingo string lights glowing, and we were all having a fabbleous time. Because I thought it'd be cute, I had my beagle, Beauregarde, in a red flowery Hawaiian shirt, and The Luppet, being solid white, looked absolutely STUNNING in her blue Hawaiian shirt with these enormous white hibiscus flowers on it. The shirts were adorable; they had collars, fake buttons down the front over velcro closures, and little short sleeves. Beau didn't seem to notice he was even wearing anything. He was mainly interested in what food items he could pilfer off the guests' plates without them noticing. The Luppet, on the other hand, looked a bit disgusted about having to wear the shirt. Maybe she thought the flowers were too big...In any case, every so often, my brother-in-law would notice the schnauzer at the far edge of the yard, off the deck, busily digging a hole. Since she's not normally a hole-digger, I was a bit perplexed, and found myself having to call her away from that area several times during the course of the evening. At one point, we were all chatting and directly in front of us trots the schnauzer, sans shirt. My brother-in-law queried, "Hey, where's Luppet's shirt?" We all looked at each other in wonderment, and finally I got up to retrieve a torch to go investigate the area where she'd been digging. At first I didn't see anything. My brother-in-law, the eagle-eyed guy he is, was peering over my shoulder and pointed. "What's that sticking out of the sand?" Upon closer inspection, it vaguely resembled the collar of the little blue and white shirt. I grasped the corner, gave it a tug, and held it up for inspection. Sure enough, it was the schnauzer's shirt!It was still fastnened, and not even inside-out. Nobody could sort out how she wriggled out of the thing. But she certainly showed us what she thought about that shirt!I still have the shirt, but have never subjected her to the ridculous (in her view) rite of actually wearing it in PUBLIC again!Anyroad, that story still gives everybody who was at that party a chuckle. No dumb dogs in this household! Just stupid people! HA!miscmood