my little secret

So, the Mom was reading an article about a dog who knows 1022 nouns. Big whoop. Aren't you curious about how I know that? I heard her talking about it. Guess I know a bunch of nouns, too.

Here's the thing. You think we don't know a lot of words because we don't always run and jump and wag when you're talking. Wrong. We understand you, we just can't talk! This comes in handy, though.

Like when the Mom asks Dad if he took the pillows off the bed. I open one eye to see if he's going up to check...




then I slide off the couch and hide. I know I'm not supposed to eat the pillows but I kinda forget until after it's all over the bed like snow. The folks think I just know the word "pillow" on account of how often I hear it. "Quincy! You ate the PILLOW!" "Bad boy, Quincy, what did you do to the PILLOW?" Truth is, I know "ate" and "Bad boy" and "what did you do", too.

This is how we hear: "RUSSELL, did you TAKE QUINCY OUTSIDE yet? He looks like he needs to GO. Maybe you could TAKE him to the PARK for a little RUN. We can EAT when you get back. WHere is his LEASH?" I know all those words, but some of them are like little bells in my ears. especially "park".

So when I started hearing the word "puppy" a lot, I kept my eyes closed and just perked up my ears. Puppy can mean we are going to the park or it can mean there is a dog on TV and I have to do my run around in circles and bark at the screen to amuse the folks. They never get tired of it. But what they were saying was "Quincy! Do you want your own puppy?"

Now I understood what they said but I couldn't believe it. So I started listening harder. I heard them talking about rescue and giving me a buddy and how the Mom would love a little dog that wouldn't pull her down the sidewalk. I felt kinda bad about that. I thought she liked it when I helped her go faster.

So now I'm thinking about what this could mean. A few months ago Billy brought Ginger over to stay for a while and he brought this tiny dog over, too. Buster. Buster is smaller than the cats. He stared me down.Well, actually I guess he stared me UP. He was pretty low to the ground. I left him alone, mostly. He freaked me out. He slept on my blanket and growled when I gave him the signal to move. He stole my bone and wouldn't give it back. When Mom was giving out cookies, Ginger and me would sit pretty and wait and I would sit up and then this Buster dog would sneak in between us and jump on Mom's lap and everybody thought that was sooooo cute. Sure. What if I did that?

Anyway, I just hope that if they bring me a puppy it isn't Buster. I need a puppy I can train.