Mystery Solved – Part I

As puppies go, my humans are always telling people how I don’t whine and I don’t bark. I’m such a good puppy. Isn’t that adorable? It’s not surprising. In fact, Mrs. human made a big point to her dad over the phone about how well-behaved I was. So guess what? That night, before we all hit the hay, I whined. Or so they tell me. They gave me my bedtime treat, I put it in my mouth and for some unknown reason I couldn’t make up my mind where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do with it. Weird, eh? I walked around in no particular direction and made a little sound, which I would define as a teeny bit whimper-like. I think some of my molars are coming in. Mrs. human said it was a whine. I was going to argue the point, but Mrs. human might think I was a whiner.

Well, that was Saturday night. Mr. and Mrs. human were looking forward to having a nice lazy sleep-in the next morning as it was Sunday. You won’t guess what I found at six the next morning. Yep, I found my bark. Turns out I have a pretty good one too. A little high-pitched and not very guard-doggy. Imagine getting everything all at once like that! And it popped those lethargic, sleepy-eyed humans out of bed bright and early. I couldn’t have been prouder … or a bit more scared. Some rather large neighbourhood dog wandered into the no-stray zone of my environs. Totally caught by surprise, I barked up a storm. Even as the barks were coming out of my mouth, powered by my little lungs, I still wasn’t sure what that was all about. As soon as the humans opened the door to the house, I was in there like a shot, tail between my legs. Okay, it’s a bit embarrassing in hindsight. I may have been scared by my own bark, which is certainly worse than my bite, tails not included. Nevertheless, a puppy doesn’t expect a bully dog to show up like that. But it must have worked. The big dog was nowhere in sight. Score one for the Pepper. Coming from the orphanage, I’m still finding out stuff about myself. Neighbor Alan came by later that day. We always have a great time. However, he playfully scolded me a wee bit. Seems my newfound bark carried up to his place too. Right on!

 

The next morning I was visited by the vet for a little check up and a puppy immunization shot. It was the first time I met this vet. So he was asking my humans all sorts of questions about me including how old I was. Mrs. human related my orphanage story and that we didn’t know how old I was exactly. He asked if I had started barking yet. What a coincidence!? So Mrs. human explained the entire barking story to the vet. But, she said didn’t know how big I would get not knowing the breed of the parents. So the vet checked my heart and lungs with a little round thing connected to his ears. He felt my tummy. No odor emissions when he squeezed. He didn’t check my feet. Lastly, he looked at my teeth and gums, noticing my two front puppy teeth are missing. Then, he told my humans with all the confidence in the world that I was a little anemic. He even pulled down my eyelids to show my humans. Finally, I had an answer. I had never heard of that breed of dog before, but being an orphan, I was happy  to solve the identity issue. I was an Anemic. I wonder what makes our eyelids so great? Apparently, my breed requires some iron pills to go with my diet. I wonder if all Anemics look like me? I’ll have to look it up in my Bones N’ Crate book, Cute And Adorable Puppy Breeds, A-M. I lucked out I was a high-odor Anemic, and not a Nincompooper. N-Z was on back order. I hope they have a photo. No hurry though. It feels like puppy snooze time is here again.