Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty-seven
He didn't mention the fact that i was getting to be 2/3 taller than a golden retriever had any right to be, and that spoke highly of where his priorities were. "i picked on you for a long time because i saw him in you.
Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty-six
Lopside stared down at the scribbles on the slip of paper on the ground. We were all amazed at the unmistakable similarity between the symbol on the paper and one of three that Lopside has scribed in front of us, but he was looking at the scrap as if...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty-five
There was, naturally, a lot to talk about and all of us speaking dogs gathered together for a big Talkie, including Dizzy and Spinner who were relieved to see me calmer after our return to the yard. The five of us who'd gone out all had ourselves a...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty-four
I'm not sure why I was so hesitant. Perhaps it was all the strange things I'd experienced since stepping out of the yard for the first time. But right then the thought of another pack of dogs being around the corner frightened me more than it enthused...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty-three
Not wanting to press Lopside too much at a time, I left him and decided to give myself some time to spend with my brother. He greeted me fondly with a "Hi Topsy!" and a pounce against my chest. He licked my face and I licked his head back. He whipped...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty-two
A week after I'd first started hanging around Lopside, I finally felt like we'd started making progress. He now understood that when I was making noises at him, I was trying to communicate and he was picking up some nouns, like "food" and "water." But...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty-one
Lopside was going to be a long-term project. That much was clear almost from the start. It was a struggle to cross that gap as he seemed just as intent to teach me the meaning of his drawings as I did trying to get him to understand my alphabet of...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Twenty
I didn't know it, but i was actually approaching record height for any breed of dog, let alone a golden retriever. i went over to the recessed portion of wall.
Evolution Part I: Chapter Nineteen
I awoke several hours later in the middle of the night. The storm was still raging outside and the area around the portal to the house was damp and abandoned. It looked like it was going to go on the rest of the night, but I had to whizz so I braved...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Eighteen
It took more time to bring Pink Nose, Terrier-face and the shepherd-lab up to my level of understanding of language. During that time, life was busy but fairly uneventful save for another litter of male pups being delivered and three more dogs being...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Seventeen
A week after the shepherd-lab returned, Pink Nose and I were beginning to share simple conversations. He'd mastered the basics and was steadily gaining vocabulary. Watching him learn was probably the best thing for Terrier-face, Fatty and the...
Evolution Part I: Chapter Sixteen
And so terrier-face and fatty became my betas. A plus side to dog politics was that once everyone knew who was in charge, people readily accepted the roles assigned to them and there was only very infrequently any bad blood between us. Promoting the...