A new thing

Two weekends ago, mum and dad brought me on a looooong drive outside of our house to an area I'm not familiar with. I didn't recognise everything around me and was not really happy about this trip, but since I was with mum and dad, I didn't complain. Finally, we reached wherever it was that we were going. Dad stopped the car, and we got out in the middle of nowhere! I saw a lot of empty land with piles of rocks, stones and wood but only one building. There were also some plants but they didn't look like the ones in the Botanic Gardens, where we usually walk. I walked up to the one building - it looked like a shop, and I LOVE shops. But mum won't let me go in. She said that there was nothing there...but she doesn't realise that there are SMELLS! She really does have an inferior nose to mine...tsk, tsk.

Oh, and I can hear lots and lots of dogs barking in the background, but there were so many voices that I can't hear what they're saying. I can only catch bits and pieces of their barks. Some were complaining about where they were, some were shouting at me, some were saying that they miss their mums and dads, some were asking for food and walks. What a mess it was! I didn't pay any attention to them though. They were too far for me to take any notice of them.

Then this lady walks out with a black thing in her arms. Mum and dad follow her to a spot just outside of the shop and then the lady put the black thing down on the floor. It turns out that it's a small dog! It's black like me, but doesn't have my handsome ears sticking out. Her ears just flopped over. She seems very nervous when I walked over to sniff at her. Mum picks her up and I walk over to both of them to sniff further. Pfft...nothing interesting. I want to go the shop, that's what I want to do. But mum and dad keep telling me to go play with this small dog. She doesn't seem interested in playing to begin with! She's just sitting there with mum! It's not my fault that she doesn't want to play with me. Now dad has her on his lap, and they keep watching me to see what I'm going to do. I keep pulling at the lead to go into the shop.

I hear them talking to each other - the lady with mum and dad. The lady says that I'm very calm and don't seem jealous of the black dog, and that's a 'good sign'. Why should I be jealous? She's not wanting to go into the shop and she doesn't have any food on her! Besides, I'm sure we're leaving soon - I've just had a big walk in the Gardens and I'm actually quite tired. Don't know why mum and dad have dragged me out to this place! Gran (that's dad's mum) and Aunty (that's the woman who's with Gran - but I don't think she's anyone's mum) are sitting on a bench. Aunty says that the black dog is lovely. Gran doesn't pay the other dog any attention, but she does make a big fuss of me.

A man walks up and shakes hands with mum and dad. And he kneels down to let me sniff his hand. He smells of a lot of dogs, but I figured that this means he's a good man. Then next thing I know, I smell doggie treats! I can smell them in his hand. Dad says to sit, and so I sat. And yes! I get a piece of treat. Then dad takes a bit of the treat in his mouth and told me to take it from him, so I did. The man seemed impressed. So this man takes out more treats and tells me to lie down and roll over - easy peasy! I get more treats from him. This is good! He talks a lot to mum and dad, but he's very friendly and I can tell that he likes dogs. He does all the right things and doesn't jump back or run away, like so many silly people do in the Gardens.

Then mum and dad tell me to go to the car, and made me jump up into my seat at the back of the car. So I jumped up, and mum gave me a drink. Dad put the black dog in my seat with me, but I didn't pay her any attention. She can sit there all she wants. Doesn't bother me. But just as I was getting settled, mum and dad made me jump out again! Sigh. I wish they'd make up their minds. So we go back to the building and I try to go into the shop again but mum told me no. Again. Then we sat around some more, and by this time, I'm getting tired, so I lay down on the floor. The black dog came up to me and sniffed at me, then went away. Mum and dad nodded at each other, Aunty nodded at them, Gran looked away. Then the lady who brought the dog out went away to get some papers, which mum signed. It all seems funny to me, but then again, humans do funny things all the time, so I didn't bother.

Then mum and dad say that it's time to go and I jump up. Finally! We walked to the car, and I get in. This time without the other dog. Get a drink of water and finally, we're off. I jump up with my paws on the back seat and see that mum has the small dog on her lap. I wonder why she's coming with us. But I'm too tired to think, so I'm going to have a short nap before I get back home.