Puppy Huxley, Chew, Chew, Chew!
By Valerie L. Egar
Layla lingered at
the cage, gazing at the oversized puppy with black and golden fur who looked at
her eagerly. One ear stood straight up and the other flopped down. He held his
tail high in the air and it curled over his body like a question mark. “Are you
sure he’s a puppy?” At five months old, the young dog weighed fifty pounds and
stood tall as her school desk.
“Look how big his
paws are. He hasn’t grown into them yet,” Dad said.
“What
kind of dog is he?” Layla asked.
The shelter’s
adoption counselor smiled. “I’d guess a little collie, mixed with some golden
retriever and maybe a hint of husky.”
“Sit,” Layla said.
The dog sat. “Good boy, Huxley,” said Layla.
“Huxley?”
Layla nodded. “I
saw the name in a book I read.”
Huxley went home with his new family, but not
before they stopped at the pet food store to buy puppy chow and a nice squeaky
stuffed frog for Huxley to play with.
Huxley liked his
new toy, but he was curious and had to find out how it made noise. He held it
down with one paw and tore at it with his teeth. Soon the stuffing and the
plastic squeaker were on the floor. He carried the unstuffed frog to Layla.
“Oh, Huxley!” she sighed.
Huxley liked discovering
new things to chew. Mom brought in bags of groceries. Huxley stuck his head in
every bag when Mom wasn’t looking. He found a box of tea bags, carried it to
his dog bed and chewed it open. Tea smelled nice, but Huxley didn’t want to eat
it.
Dad hung pictures
in his office and left the hammer on the floor. Huxley thought it looked a
little like a bone. He carried it to his dog bed and chewed on the handle. Yuck!
It didn’t have much flavor. Dad found the hammer decorated with tooth marks.
A bottle of water
looked very interesting and it was easy to carry when Huxley grasped it by the
top with his teeth. He carried it to his dog bed and gnawed on it. Eww! It made
his bed wet.
The vacuum made
too much noise. Huxley fixed it by chewing the electric cord off.
Magazines had
wonderful scented paper perfume samples inside. Huxley loved how they smelled.
Too bad he had to tear up the whole magazine just to get to them out.
Huxley found a
feedbag of nuts and dried fruit his family bought to feed the woodpeckers.
Huxley put his head deep into the bag and gobbled the woodpecker food. It was
delicious. “Are you a woodpecker?” his family asked. “That’s not for you,
Huxley.”
When his family
forgot to shut the closet door, Huxley explored inside and found piles of
shoes. They had funny looking spiky sticks on one end and looked hard to walk
on. They were made from leather though and rather tasty. He chewed a red one, a
blue one and another that was an odd shade of brown.
“Good thing I
don’t wear high heels anymore,” Mom said. “You’re helping me clear the closet, Huxley.”
Layla found him
with a canister of oatmeal, the lid chewed off and oatmeal sprinkled all over.
“Oh, Huxley,” Layla said. “How did you reach the counter?”
Huxley’s family went
to the store and bought lots of chew toys for him—fancy ones shaped like bones
and rubber ones they stuffed with treats. Maybe, just maybe, he would chew on
his toys instead of things he wasn’t supposed to chew, like table legs and TV
remotes. Huxley enjoyed his new toys, but he was still a puppy and now and
then, he still decided to taste something new.
“Oh, Huxley! Not
my science homework!”
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Copyright 2017 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be published, distributed or reproduced without permission from the author.
Published December 31, 2017 Biddeford Journal Tribune (Biddeford, ME).
Like the story? 'Like,' comment or share with your FACEBOOK friends.
Copyright 2017 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be published, distributed or reproduced without permission from the author.
Published December 31, 2017 Biddeford Journal Tribune (Biddeford, ME).
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