Of Human Pups and New Friends

Hi!

     Bow-WOW! Another tongue-lolling day outside! I just got back from a walk around the neighborhood with Allison, but now I think it's time to relax a bit. I've been thinking a lot about human-pups lately; I think they call them "babies." Every Friday morning my humans get up early to greet a human-pup called "Jacob-Baby," and everybody runs around calling his name. 

Here's Jacob.

       Well, when I first met Jacob I wasn't too sure about him. I was afraid my humans wouldn't remember me with the human pup in the house!  

I was even littler than I am now, and I stuck close to Allison at first.

      Once I got my courage up, I decided to show this new person I wanted to play. So I jumped up and up and up and licked his face. Then he started to yell, and I didn't understand.    

    

"You can't jump on Jacob," Rachel and Allison told me. "He's just a baby; you're scaring him!"

     

     This made me kind of sad. Why wouldn't he play with me? For awhile I stayed with Allison while Suz and Rachel played with Jacob. The Friday after that, my humans took Jacob and me to the park with the animals. I sniffed around and chased bugs, and Jacob went to go say hi to the emus (They smelled like yummy chicken to me, but Allison told me that I couldn't eat them.).

     Anyway, this past Friday Jacob came over, and my humans decided we could both play outside. Jacob made funny roaring noises at the big trucks across the street. I galloped back and forth hunting for squirrels. Then a wonderful thing happened! Allison sat down on the porch steps, and both Jacob and I wandered over to sit down next to her. I gave him a tentative lick, and to my delight, he gave me a snuggle and let me give him kisses! 

    "SCHNAUZAH!" he said. "Funny SamIAm!"

My humans think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

      To help me understand better about babies, Allison read me a book called McDuff and the Baby by Rosemary Wells, illustrated by Susan Jeffers. It's about a little white dog (reminds me of my Westie dad!) who has a wonderful life with his humans - until a baby shows up and changes everything! The baby keeps everyone so busy that they don't have as much time for McDuff. Eventually McDuff's humans realize that McDuff feels sad and start doing things as a family.

     The ending shows McDuff and the baby starting to become friends - in a way that will make most little readers laugh. This Rosemary Wells human has written a great story about a tough life change and the bonds between family members. Making a change, meeting someone new, and sharing can be pretty hard. But making a new friend is worth it!

    Allison says that Susan Jeffers' illustrations are her favorite part of the book. She especially likes the page that shows McDuff's squinty-eyed glare at the happy, uncaring baby. McDuff is a lovable, fiesty canine character as depicted, and what Allison calls the "period" details (the radio, the humans' clothing, the cars, and even the wallpaper/furniture patterns) make the book interesting for parents as well as human-pups from babyhood on. 

    All in all, I liked McDuff and the Baby and give it two paws up. Allison told me we can read more of the McDuff books, like McDuff Moves In, McDuff Saves the Day, and McDuff Comes Home (and more!). Clearly this author is an animal lover (Allison says she also writes the Max bunny books), so I am a fan! RUFF!

  Rosemary Wells with a real-life McDuff dog!

     Well, I'm off to do some serious napping. Weather like this demands a cozy snooze under a kitchen chair. What can I say? All this learning makes a pup want to snuggle up!

                                                        Yours in babies & snuggles,

                                                                                 Sam I Am