A Doggone Happy Life

Bark didn't like being dressed up as a pirate dog. He wasn't that kind of dog at all.

Bark sat on his rump. He did not feel like wagging his tail. His Halloween costume itched and scratched in all the wrong places. A pirate. Just because he only had three legs and one eye, the shelter had dressed him with a hook, an eye patch, pirate hat and pirate clothes.

Bark did not want to be a pirate. He wanted to be a dog. The flash on the camera taking his picture hurt his one good eye. He couldn’t see what all the commotion was about. The camera man stopped flashing photos. That was good. The man left to join the staff Halloween party leaving Bark alone.

Bark sat waiting. Someone would come and get him out of the pirate costume, but when? Bark yawned, closed his one good eye, and prepared to take a nap.

Bark did have one good thing going for him. He had a dog’s good nose. He could smell things ten times better than people could and there was a strange new smell in the air floating by. It was the scent of a cat. A second good sniff turned the scent into that of a young cat, a lost kitten, poor thing,

Bark had lived in the shelter longer than any other dog. The cat section was far away. The kitten couldn’t find her way back. Her meow cries turned into purrs as she found her way next to Bark. She was a dirty mess. He began licking and grooming her clean. The purrs got louder. Then a strange thing happened.

Bark felt the kitten nudging her head and then disappearing her whole body inside his pirate outfit to get warm. She thought it was her new home. The kitten curled up and stayed there.

Bark had been lonely. Unless a volunteer took him for a three legged walk around the shelter yard, he stayed alone on a cement floor and fenced in with walls. One of the young volunteers came over, scooped Bark up and dropped him off in his cage.

Bark’s new friend woke up and meowed. She climbed out of his clothes and started to play with Bark’s hat. When it came off, she didn’t stop there. With her help, Bark got out of the pirate outfit. He nudged it together to make a kitten bed. It was a relief to be free from the Halloween costume.

Bark could be himself again, himself with a new friend. When a family came to the shelter looking for a cat friendly dog, they were led to Bark. The staff had been kind and let the lost kitten stay with him. When the family saw how loving Bark was with his kitten, they fell in love with both. They brought Bark and Kitten to their home.

Bark had a surprise coming. Meg, the Stewart families daughter liked dressing up her one eared, snaggle-toothed Blue Russian named Sue. Bark gave a shudder. What if dressing up became a daily thing for him?

Bark didn’t have to wait long to find out. He was dressed in a new front leg attached to what was left of his old one. He could walk like a dog again. Kitten loved playing between his legs as he roamed about the big fenced in back yard. Meg loved playing fetch with the new dog toys.

Bart woke up from a nap one day to see Meg had left the gate open. Kitten had gotten out. She was a curious cat. The busy street beckoned. Meg had seen it and raced out to save Kitten from racing traffic.

Bart wore his new leg almost all the time during the day now. He went into high gear. When he reached the curb he dove at Meg tumbling her and Kitten who was caught in her hands to roll out of the car’s way. Bart tumbled with them.

Bart had saved Meg and Kitten’s lives. He was a hero. This time he didn’t mind the flash of local newspaper men’s cameras, nor being dressed up with a bright hero ribbon hanging around his neck.

Bart’s pirate Halloween days were over. He was dressed in his hero costume the next Halloween when he walked with Meg and her dressed up cat trick-or treat’ing. Kitten rode with her head poking out of an empty Halloween candy bag attached at his side

wc 727 .