Riley and his D.O.

My mum says that I’ve given my best friends D.O.  but I think my little friends are all perfect, and they have never told me that they have a problem with this. In fact I spend a lot of time carrying them around, resting my head on them and taking them outside or to my humans so we can all play together, but she says sometimes coating them with my Doggie Odour and drool gets too much and smells bad. 

Now I think D.O. is good (as I know where to “seek” my friends around the house when mum plays a game hiding them for me to find) but this horror story starts when I am not looking.

She rounds up my favourite friends (currently Horsey, Duckie, Quack and Rudolf) plus my chew rope and the rugs I sleep on and tries to drown them all. I hear strange gurgling noises. I can hear them crying out to me, but can’t get inside the big white box to them to show them how to always swim with their head above the water like I do.

After what seems like forever, and lots more strange noises and beeps from the nasty white box, she takes them out and attaches little torture devices to them so they hang on wires.

I am too short to help them, and even if I could get up really high, I haven't yet worked out how to use my paws to gently free them.

Then the fresh air spins my friends round and round, and they get dizzy and I notice that they look pale.

All I can do is wait underneath the wires and speak to them with gentle barks to let them know I am there and this unpleasantness will soon be over.

While I am waiting ramdom thoughts go through my head like:

• Should I report my mum to the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Stuffies?
• What can our neighbours think of her strange behaviour?
• And why does she make strange comments about getting all my ducks in a row? Doesn’t she realise that two yellow ducklings hardly makes a row, although sometimes my grey and green ducks are also subjected to this torture and there are four to six ducks hanging there.

Then, after what seems like ages, we are finally together again and I realise that I love my friends even more for the things they endure just to be with me.

Have a great day, and remember to appreciate your friends.
Riley