Loving Humane-ity, Adrienne Gresham, LaCont'e [superbooks4u .TXT] 📗

a humane baby; but now they had a

 

human one. They were smart enough to buy plenty of books on the subject.

 

Things were done slightly different with this one.

 

Dixon and Daisy started to act out because they had been the babies for so long.

 

They had all of every body’s attention and did not want to share it with another

 

baby. “This is certainly something new, I wonder what breed he is?” asked

 

Dixon. “I don’t know, but he is not a dog at all, he is a human, like Daniel” she

 

responded. “We are still the babies, now it is just three instead of two” Dixon

 

said.

 

“Just be happy for our new addition, and don’t make any trouble. Do you two

 

understand?” Dad said. They gave him a nod of ‘yes and that ended that

 

conversation.

 

Daniel was out there filling in holes underneath the fence and Erwin was in his

 

stroller watching the dogs play. Hank, Daisy and Dixon decided to put a rope on

 

his stroller and pull him around the yard for fun. He was laughing and they were

 

having a great time until he started to cough. Daniel heard him and ran over to

 

him. He was choking on one of his toddler snacks. Once he got it out, the baby

 

was o.k.

 

Hank had lain down on the grass to watch Daniel so that he would know what to

 

 

do for the next time that incident happened. “Well, at least we know now that

 

humans cannot laugh and eat at the same time” said Dixon. “Oh that just

 

happened because he is a baby and does not have any teeth yet, he’s alright now”

 

Hank replied. “So on that note, do you guys want to eat these treats that he

 

dropped or not?” asked Daisy. They all pounced on those treats.

 

“Lets all play beauty pageant” said Daisy. “We all have to walk on our back legs”

 

said Daniel. “I want to strike a pose for my pictures” said Joseph. “Do you see a

 

camera present?” asked Jay. None of them were aware that Daniel was

 

videotaping them as they were performing. So they were hard at play and having

 

a great time doing so.

 

Daniel decided to send the video in to America’s funniest home videos and they

 

actually won the grand prize. He decided to write a book about them.

 

Coletta came home one evening and after dinner she told Daniel “I think that we

 

need a bigger house and yard. They just need more space to expand their legs”.

 

He just looked at her for a while, and then said “I think that they are fine, at least

 

for now. It won’t hurt to start looking around though”.

 

“The reason that I brought it up because my uncle has willed me a ranch house on

 

the outskirts of town, and I think that it will be great for them and us” she said.

 

“Get out of here, are you serious?” She looked at him and laughed at the

 

expression on his face. “I am very serious, my love. Are you interested?” He

 

stood up and hugged her tightly, as he kissed her. “How early do you want to ride

 

out in the morning?” he asked.

 

They drove out early to look it over, and boy, was it great. There were at least

 

fifteen acres of green grass. All kinds of trees and a small lake, not too far from

 

the main house. There were stables for horses and even some chicken coops. They

 

had to laugh at that because they were not farmers, just dog lovers.

 

His only complaint was the fact that there was no fencing around the yard and he

 

had to have that. “We can move in as soon as I can get the fencing put up”. “How

 

long do you think that will take?” she asked. “Not too long, maybe about two

 

weeks, tops”. She was happy and could not wait to start packing.

 

Erwin was now one year and walking around. He was curious about everything

 

and every body.

 

Jay, Joseph and Hank had to get used to this, because they had never lived outside

 

of the city. “Where is the noise from the traffic?” Jay asked. “It’s too quiet out

 

here” replied Hank. “Oh don’t you guys just love it, stop complaining, and be

 

thankful” said Joseph.

 

The next morning, Daniel was awakened by plenty of barking and howling going

 

on. It startled him and he ran out of the house as quick as he could. When he

 

reached them, he saw Brett and Berta had arrived flown in and they were happily

 

playing. After witnessing this reunion he was relieved and went back inside.

 

Even though Erwin was only one, he was very independent and met his dad

 

coming in as he was going out. Daniel stopped him and picked him up. “No, let

 

go daddy” he said. “Hey wait a minute, your pants are on backwards, slow down”.

 

After dad straightened his pants, he raced outside to get with the group.

 

They were comfortable leaving him alone with the animals because they knew

 

that he would be well taken care of by them. Whenever they finished playing, or

 

whenever he got tired Hank would bring him home.

 

The doorbell was motion censored, and the animals caught on quick. Whenever

 

Hank brought the baby home; the butterflies would fly in front of the doorbell

 

until someone would come out to get him. Erwin loved the attention that the

 

animals gave to him.

 

Coletta thought that the dogs had been cooped up in the yard for too long, so she

 

decided to open the gate and let them out for a while to play. At around six thirty

 

or so, she heard much barking and growling going on, so she ran out to see what

 

all the commotion was about.

 

Every body was accounted for except for Dominique. “Where is he, she asked?”

 

she finally felt tugging at her pant legs and looked down. Daisy and Dixon were

 

pulling her, while Hank was on the ground crying and moaning. She picked the

 

baby up and followed the dogs. Krem and Doreen were jumping up and down and

 

growling at a spot in the lake that was close to the edge.

 

She tried calling Daniel on his cell phone for the second time and still there was

 

no answer. There was so much noise going on that she did not hear him come up.

 

Erwin was crying and scream! She just could not think clearly. There was a big

 

Splash! And Daniel came up out of the water with Dominique.

 

The puppies were all screaming in unison “Get up Nique, Get up, please!” Daniel

 

revived him and he started coughing. Daniel picked him up and held him while

 

Coletta put a warm blanket around him. “How in the hell did they get out of that

 

yard? I know for a fact that I filled in all of those holes” he said. “I am so sorry

 

honey; I let them out to play for a while. Please forgive me, it will never happen

 

again” she responded.

 

Over the next two weeks he noticed that all of the dogs would just stay huddled

 

together in one spot whenever they were not eating. They weren’t playful

 

anymore and they seemed depressed.

 

He called his uncle and explained what happened to him. He came out and

 

brought a psychologist with him. The therapist told them that” due to the incident

 

with Dominique, the dogs did not feel safe and secure on the grounds anymore,

 

and this was their way of protecting each other”.

 

Daniel knew that he had to do something to shake them out of that funk, so he

 

played the video of them when they played beauty pageant in the yard. They

 

slowly started to play with each other, and eventually seemed to be back to

 

normal.

 

He purposely took all of them back down to the lake and played fetch and other

 

games with them for hours. As far as he was concerned, the fear was gone.

 

Daisy told Hank and Dixon “I am bored, let’s go and explore”. “Do you think that

 

is a good idea? How will we get out of the yard, anyway?” Dixon asked. Hank

 

looked at them and said “I don’t know about that idea”. “Oh come on, don’t be a

 

dud” said Jay and Joseph in unison.

 

They found some loose dirt and dug a hole big enough for all of them to get out of

 

the yard. They took off on their exploration.

 

By the time that Daniel went out to feed them, they had been gone for about five

 

hours and it was now getting dark. “Where are they?” Doreen asked her husband.

 

“Don’t panic, they will be here shortly” he said. “If they are not back by morning,

 

then I will go out looking” Daniel told Coletta.

 

He could not sleep, no matter how hard he tried. It was now five o’clock in the

 

morning and he was off to find his puppies. He had no idea where to go and look,

 

but he was determined to find them. It was now four p.m. and still no sign of

 

them. Agitation and worry had set in on him and he was tired. He decided that the

 

next step was to inform the authorities.

 

He arrived home after six o’clock p.m. and she did not see her children. Doreen

 

went outside and got into their doghouse and howled for the rest of the night.

 

There was no calming her down. “Our other children need us too, we have to stay

 

strong” said Krem. “I know that, but I want my babies here with me. Why can’t

 

you understand that?” she exploded.

 

After one whole week they still had not surfaced, and they knew nothing more.

 

Daniel decided to put an ad in the local paper in hopes of hearing something about

 

his dogs.

 

Daniel and Coletta were awakened by the phone ringing at four o’clock a.m. it

 

was the authorities calling. “This is officer Huff with the local authorities, and we

 

have located your dogs. They are in a shelter over in the next county. Call me in

 

the morning at seven a.m. we will go and get them”.

 

The three of them set out in the morning to go and get the dogs. When they

 

arrived, they found out that Dixon had been adopted. “Oh please don’t say that”

 

Daniel cried. “They all had on collars and tags, how in the world did that happen?

 

Was he sold or something? Tell me now, I want to know”. “Calm down, lets just

 

breathe for a minute” said officer Huff.

 

They got back home with the four, but without Dixon who could celebrate their

 

return? “I won’t rest until I have him home where he belongs” said Daniel.

 

Brett and Berta remembered the tag number of the car that they put him into.

 

They went and gathered a lot of their butterfly friends and brought them over.

 

They formed the tag number in the air. “How do we relay the message to Daniel?”

 

Joseph asked. Coletta quickly grabbed her camera and took pictures of the

 

numbers and letters that the butterflies formed for them.

 

She had never seen anything like this before in her life and it was amazing. She

 

and Daniel sat down and starred at these pictures for two hours, before realizing

 

that it was a tag number. “This cannot be for real” she said. He was speechless

 

and could only laugh in astonishment at these animals.

 

They took the pictures over to officer Huff in hopes of him using them. He

 

assured them that he would get back on the case after Christmas. There was

 

nothing else that they could do, so they left.

 

Christmas day was soon approaching and the puppies were looking forward to

 

their new toys and treats. It just did not seem right without Dixon. No matter how

 

hard they tried to go on as usual.

 

“This is too hard, I feel so helpless. I wonder if he is alright. Is he eating,

 

sleeping?” said Daniel. “Honey, let’s just pray for his safe return” said Coletta.

 

Erwin grabbed both of his parents’ hands and closed his eyes for prayer. They

 

looked at each other and followed suit.

 

No sooner had they finished praying when they heard a car horn blowing. They

 

ran outside to see officer Huff taking Dixon off of a leash. Dixon took off so fast

 

that he tripped once or twice getting to his parents. They were so glad to see their

 

baby that they would have smothered him with pampering if Daniel had not

 

intervened.

 

This was Christmas Eve and the dogs put on a show for the humans. They were

 

jumping up and down and leaping.