“Hey, Cee-Cee, look here!”
“What are you reading, Mom?”
“You’ll never guess!”
“Try me. My mind is supple, you know.”
“This year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is allowing mixed breeds into a special category!”
“Hee, hee, hee! Well, it’s about time!”
“The world keeps changing, for sure!”
“Hey, Mom! Can we go? I’m a Defiance Crescent-News Pet Parade winner, you know!”
“Oh, little girl dumplin’, I know. And you won Best Curly Tailed at the Bark for a Park event, as well. But this involves travel costs and registrations and agility competition, events for which we’ve never trained you.”
“Oh.”
“I know. Bummer. But we can watch on TV –”
“That’ll be cool. Hey, who are the new dudes this year?”
“Hmm… Let me look. Well, Rat Terriers –”
“Huh! Hey, I’m terrier –”
“But you are a Border Terrier m –”
“Border Terriers compete!”
“Purebred Border Terriers, little girl dumplin’. You are part Border Terrier.”
“Oh. Yeah. What’s that other part again?”
“Basenji — the non-barker with the –”
“Curly tail.”
“Right!”
“Okay. Who else is new?”
“It says the Portuguese podengo pequeno –”
“Wow!”
“Yes! I agree! And the Chinook.”
“What’s that?”
“He’s the New Hampshire state dog, a sled puller.”
“Geez, Mom. You always say I could pull a sled.”
“Well, you could, too, but this event is just not your cup of bones.”
“Well, I’ll get a new chewy bone when we watch on TV, won’t I?”
“You surely will!”
“With peanut butter.”
“Of course…”
“Okay, then. As long as I’m with you, Mom. Yum, this old chewy is still pretty good.”
Horses and Animals Are Talkin' 