Mommy Plays in a Puddle--by Caitlin

Mommy did something surprising yesterday.

Mommy and I have started walking to the dog park in the mornings.  It's a 3 1/2 mile walk, so as you can imagine, there are all sorts of interesting things to do on the way--cats who could be chased, other dogs to bark at, so many interesting smells, I couldn't begin to describe them to you. Unfortunately Mommy almost always pulls me away from the really good stuff.

If I get really excited, I like to grab the leash in my teeth. I can chew right through it in about 30 seconds, and sometimes I do. Once when I chewed the leash off, I got to run around without it for a couple of miles, which gave me an opportunity to show Mommy that I can be trusted without a leash. I did everything Mommy said--well, almost everything. There were a couple of dogs who were barking at me and really needed to be put in their place, so I knew Mommy would understand if I couldn't come just then. And Mommy was quite unreasonable about it when I ran across the street. The car stopped, after all!

Mommy doesn't let me off the leash on the way to the dog park. In fact, she keeps an extra leash around her waist, and she makes an awful fuss whenever I so much as start to chew the one I'm wearing.

As you can tell, Mommy is something of a spoilsport on our walks, so I was really surprised yesterday when she suddenly plunged into a puddle on Severin Drive. It was a really good puddle, all black and slimy and smelly and gooey. I wish I'd seen it first!

Mommy needs practice, though. She didn't control her dive, and she landed with an ungainly splat. Where I would have done a graceful slide and roll, she just crashed down, all sprawled out on the pavement. And she didn't even try to roll in the slime--the funnest part of all.

She must have been embarrassed by her poor performance because she didn't try again. She just got up as awkwardly as she'd gone down, and we walked the rest of way to the dog park--quite a bit slower than we'd been walking before--but I guess Mommy had a lot to think about.

She shouldn't let it bother her. Almost everyone does poorly the first time they try to learn a new skill. I hope she won't give up because I'd really like it if we could play in puddles together.