Sparky and Bitsy
By Rose Padrick
"Sparky! Come!"
Leaping to my feet from a sound sleep, I followed R.J. out the door into the back yard. My friend Bitsy's owner stood by the fence speaking with Hannah. Wondering why he was holding her little bed, I looked around and sniffed for my friend, but she was not in her yard. My hackles rose as I realized something must have happened to her or she would be here to greet me, tail wagging fast enough to fall off, as she usually did.
R.J. held the bed close to my snout, and asked me to "Find." Although I did not need to be reminded of my friend's scent, I snuffled deep into the soft pillow and remembered playing the "Find" game so many times with R.J., Gregory, and Jay that I knew exactly what to do.
I turned as I backed up and ran little circles with my nose close to the ground, I knew there had to be a new scent somewhere, and I was determined to find it.
"What is he doing?" Bitsy's owner asked. "He's playing! I told you this was a bad idea! We need to call the police!"
Hannah patted his arm and assured Bitsy's owner. "If Bitsy can be found, Sparky will be the one to do it, he is a very special dog."
Running back and forth, nose still to the ground, I covered Bitsy's yard, sniffing under the bushes and around the flower bed, but still not picking up her scent. The rough fence scratching the side of my face as I went up and down, stopping several times at the places she had tried to dig under.
I sniffed all the way down the street and back again, jumping back in surprise when a car angrily honked at me as I sniffed around the edge of the road, Bitsy's children following behind calling her. By the time we got back to Bitsy's house, some of the younger children were crying. I kissed away a tear as Jacob repeated, "Here Btty, Here Bitty." Nicholas wiped his nose on his sleeve and mumbled, "Silly little dog, Come Home!" I was snuffling Hayden's neck to make him laugh when I heard a very faint whimper.
Bitsy! I knew she had to be close!
There! I heard the sound again it came from behind the house! Running to the back yard I barked and scratched at the locked gate. Bitsy didn't answer my bark. I stood very still at the gate and rotated my ears first one way then the other, but didn't hear anything else for a long time. As I turned to walk back to the children I heard a very small splash. The pool!
I scratched and chewed at the fence, then barked as loud as I could.
But no one came! The humans didn't hear me! They were walking the other way!
I knew I needed to get to Bitsy quickly so I did something I had been told never to do. Stepping back a few paces, I jumped as high as I could, grabbing onto the fence with paws and mouth then scrambled the rest of the way up. Yelping from the sharp pain in my foot and leg as I pushed myself over the top. The pain got worse as I leaped to the ground, but I ran around the house as fast as I could.
Struggling to keep her head up and too little to climb out, Bitsy was so tired she was slipping under the water. The cold water stung my eyes when I jumped in, making it hard to see. Listening for her weak splashes and swimming as fast as I could, I bumped into the floating chair. Swimming first one way, then another, I made it around the chair, but it took a lot of time. I couldn't hear Bitsy splashing anymore!
I choked on the water as I tried to bark, but Bitsy heard and whined back! She was right in front of me!
I gently grabbed her by the loose skin on her tiny neck. Fighting to hold her out of the water, I swam around until I found the stairs just like Hannah showed me in our pool. My tired legs made it hard to carry her up the steps.
Bitsy just laid there, gasping and didn't try to get up. Licking her face and nudging her with my nose didn't get her up. I barked louder than I ever have and jumped and scratched on the back door. No one opened it! I had to get help for her!
Picking her back up I started around the corner of the house, but didn't get far before the light came on and a man ran out the back door.
"Oh my goodness! What have we got here?" The man took Bitsy from me and yelled for someone to bring a towel. I nosed in and kissed her face as he rubbed and patted. Then Bitsy began to whimper and weakly wagged her tail.
Both Bitsy and I were wrapped in towels and carried to her house where the children covered both of us with hugs and kisses, which we returned.
Bitsy's owner warmed milk and set it down for us, then turned to Hannah and said, "You were right, Sparky is a special dog and we all owe him a debt of gratitude. If he had not found Bitsy as quickly as he did, she might not be with us right now!"
I don't know what a "debt of gratitude" is, but I hope it means more warm milk!
Sparky and MeeTu
By Rose Padrick
"Ming! Come down from there!"
I knew even before I peeked around the corner that Ming had climbed to the top of the shelf again, and would not come down. The silly little cat did the same thing every day, and every day Hannah would get the big ladder from the garage, climb up, and pull Ming off the shelf. I will never understand what humans see in cats! They are always trouble.
"Mom, can we take Sparky for a walk around the block please?" Jay asked with leash in hand.
Not waiting for an answer, I ran to Jay and sat down, waiting for him to click the leash. I love walking on the leash with Gregory and Jay. We always find interesting trails and lots of friends to play fetch with and share ice cream. Sometimes, we meet Carol and her little white dog, MeeTu, and go to the park where we can get off the leashes and chase each other. The best part is there are no cats anywhere!
"Please Mom? We'll be careful, and we'll take real good care of Sparky!" Gregory said, waiting at the front door.
Hanna clapped her hands loudly. "Ming! Come down here right now!"
Ming walks to the other side of the shelf and meows softly.
"Mom, if we help get Ming down, then can we go to the park?" Jay asked.
Gregory laughed. "We have a great way to get her off things you don't want her to be on!"
Hannah turned and said, "OK guys, if you can get Ming to come down from the shelf on her own not only can you take Sparky to the park, but I'll you some buy ice cream, too."
"Allright!"
Laughing and tugging on each other, Jay and Gregory raced to the bedroom.
Jay came from the room with a small water gun and a soft growl came from Ming when she saw him lift it high in the air.
Before the stream of water could even hit Ming's soft fur, she jumped off the shelf, landed on the back of the chair, jumped to the floor, and scurried into the kitchen.
Hannah laughed so hard it was difficult to understand her. "Ming certainly doesn't like to be squirted! I didn't know she could get off that shelf by herself! I've been dragging that big ladder in the living room every time she went up there. How did you learn to do that?"
"We saw it on T.V.," Gregory answered. "There was a guy on the animal channel showing you how to do all sorts of things to get your pets to listen to you and stay away from things you don't want them to mess with. The water gun is the only thing that worked on Ming."
"Well, I will be getting one of my own this very afternoon!" Hannah said, still laughing. "I promised you guys ice cream and ice cream you shall get. Jay, if you'll get my purse from my room, I'll give you both ice cream money."
Gregory and I waited by the door while Jay ran for Hannah's purse. With money in hand, Gergory clicked my leash and we headed out the door.
We ran all the way to the park, Jay and Gregory laughing and racing each other. Carol and MeeTu were just getting there also, and Carol had brought another friend, Dennis.
Gregory unclicked my leash and I started to run into the bushes, but turned back when I noticed MeeTu wasn't following me the way he usually does.
Carol was holding the little white dog.
"MeeTu doesn't really feel like running much today," she said. "He had to have an operation and his underside still hurts."
I stood on my hind legs and nudged him with my nose just to let him know I was sorry he hurts. MeeTu squirmed in her arms so Carol gently puts him on the ground, but MeeTu didn't like to go far from Carol.
While I stood and waited for MeeTu to decide if he felt like playing, I heard Carol tell Gregory and Jay that Dennis had been sick and had to have an operation. Then she said she got sick and had to have an operation. Boy! The dog AND both humans having operations! I'm sure glad we don't use that veterinarian.
After a minute, MeeTu and I walked to the bushes and sniffed around trying to find an interesting scent. Not finding anything, we wandered toward the river.
I like to jump down the bank and splash around in the cool water; there are all kinds of strange animals and bugs that hide among the rocks and under the weeds that grow in the water. I once even caught a fat fish, but R.J. took it and threw it back in the water.
The water was running faster than it usual and I didn't see any of the weeds. As we leaned over to sniff, the bank starts to crumble and I jumped back. I barked at MeeTu to tell him he should get back, but he just turns and looks at me. I could tell he caught scent of something interesting because his ears are perked up and he had his nose high in the air.
Just as he turned back to the water, the bank falls apart and MeeTu yowled in pain as he tumbled down to the water. He tried to hang on to the grass and rocks with his front paws, but his back end landed in the water and it was pulling him away.
I followed along the bank, barking as long and loud as I can. Should I leave MeeTu alone in the water and go for help? Or should I stay with him and hope Gregory and Jay can hear me? What to do?
MeeTu's yelps got weaker, his underside must have been very painful and he was getting tired. I jumped down the bank and splashed into the water next to him. My legs are longer than his so I was able to find a clump of grass to hang onto and I could push my back feet against the bottom. MeeTu took my collar in his mouth and hung on.
Just when I thought no one heard my barking, I heard Jay calling my name. I barked as loud as I could and MeeTu barked as best he could with my collar in his mouth.
"There they are! In the water! Help me get them out!" I could tell by his voice Jay was very upset.
Dennis held Jay's arm while he scrambled down the bank. Taking his shoes off, Jay stepped into the water and reached for MeeTu. His foot slipped on the grassy rock and he landed in the water beside us.
"Oh no! Please be careful!" said Carol in a fearful voice.
Standing again, Jay was able to grab MeeTu by the collar in one hand, my collar in the other and pulled us both out of the water.
Jay then lifted us one at a time to Dennis, who sat us down in the soft grass. First MeeTu then me, shook the water out of our coats and rolled over and over, happy to be out of that river.
"Oh Poor Baby!" Carol said as she grabbed MeeTu in a tight hug. He kissed her face all over, happy to be in her arms again.
"Oh darn! Mom is going to wring my neck!" Jay said, as he wiped the mud off himself. He slipped a couple of times coming up the riverbank and was as brown as the rocks.
"Mom is right here and you're right - you have some explaining to do, but first I want to give my little hero a big hug for being right on the spot to rescue our two four-legged friends!"
Just then, Hannah reached out and grabbed Jay in a big bear hug, mud and all!
"Mom! I didn't see you there!" Jay sputtered.
"When you didn't come home on time, I knew something must be wrong so I came looking for you. I was frightened when I saw Carol, Dennis, and Gregory standing by the edge of the water and came running over here to find my little boy looking like he went to the mud baths!" Hannah said as she brushed some of the mud off her shirt that Jay had shared with her.
"I don't know who is muddier - Sparky, MeeTu, or you. Maybe we need to put you all in the same bath?" Hannah said, laughing.
I don't think there is anything at all funny about a bath.
