The little dog said Moo

And the little dog said Moo!

Once there was a little dog named Barky... Barky Barker, to be exact. His people had named him Barky when he was just a baby because he always barked. He barked a lot and when he barked he’d always say the same thing, “Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark!” Barky was white with brown and black spots and had big, round brown eyes and a big shiny black nose. He was a happy little dog, always smiling and had a long tail which always wagged, swinging madly from side to side.

One day Barky ran to the door. He was sure that he had heard company coming. “Hello!” he shouted as loudly as he could, “Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark!” But nobody answered. All he heard was big people feet walking very quickly away from the door. He stretched way up so that he could look through the little hole where the people put the key, but he couldn’t see anybody at all. There was nobody there. Sadly he went back to his little bed behind the house and lay down.

After a while he got up to get himself a drink of water and when he looked up there was a pretty bird sitting on top of the high wall behind the yard. It was bright red and black and had a pretty orange beak. It looked so nice and was so very pretty and he thought that it would be very good company and maybe wanted to be his friend. “Hello!” he shouted as loudly as he could, “Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark!”

The bird jumped up and flew away just as fast as it could go.

Sadly Barky walked back to his little bed and lay down and sighed great big. The pretty bird just didn’t want to be his friend. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

A little while later he woke up feeling hungry so he walked over to his dish to see what his people had left there for him. It was full of all sorts of good looking stuff so he began to eat. Suddenly he heard a sound and looked around to see what it could be. There on top of the wall where the pretty bird had sat was a fluffy striped cat. It was gray and had black lines on it and when it looked at him it had a big letter ‘M’ right in the middle of its forehead. Maybe, he thought, it wanted to be his friend.  “Hello!” he shouted as loudly as he could, “Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark!”

The cat jumped straight up into the air and when it came back down it ran away just as fast as it could.

“Aw,” Barky thought sadly, “the kitty doesn’t want to be my friend, either.”
And with another big sigh he walked back to lay on his little bed again.

“Maybe,” he thought sadly, “they all get scared when I say, Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, bark! Maybe I should try saying something else for a change. Maybe I should meow like a cat. No,” he thought, “then all the pretty birds would be afraid.

Maybe I should talk like a fish. No, he thought. All of the cats would want to eat me if they thought I was a fish. Besides that, I don’t even know what a fish says. Suddenly he remembered something. Once on a ride in the car with his people he had talked to a cow on a farm. Maybe if he practiced for a while he could say hi like a cow. Moooooooooooooooooooooooo,” he whispered.
That was it. Moooooooooooooooooooooooo!” he shouted happily. “Moooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Smiling happily he lay back and went to sleep.

Suddenly he woke up and sniffed the air like all dogs do and smelled something new. Looking up on the wall he saw a very large orange, black and white cat sitting and licking her paw.

“Hello! Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” the little dog shouted. “How are you? Mooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

The cat stopped licking her paw and leapt up. Then looking down at where Barky stood Mooing happily she began to laugh. She had never seen a mooing dog before. The sight was so funny to her that she even forgot to be afraid.

She leapt down from the wall and Barky watched sadly after her as she raced away. Soon, however, she came back and this time she had all of her friends with her. With her came black cats, white cats, orange cats, brown and white cats, gray cats with stripes like tigers fat cats and some very skinny cats and all of them sat on top of the wall looking down in amazement at the little dog who was prancing and dancing around mooing happily at all his company. Soon the cats were joined by a whole flock of birds who had heard the ruckus and had flown down from the trees to see what it was all about. They, too, stood on the wall laughing as the little dog jumped around wagging his tail and mooing like a cow. They had never seen a dog moo before and many of them were so surprised that they even forgot to be afraid of the cats and some even sat on top of their ears as they watched the little dog dance and moo.

The afternoon wore on and soon the little dog grew very tired from all his jumping and mooing and even though he was very happy from having so many new friends, he had to stop to rest.

Now, as you know, all stories must come to the point where the reader says, “The End” and this would be a fine place to say that while the little dog was so happy, but this isn’t the end at all. You see, the little dog  promised all his new friends that he would talk to them on the very next day if they’d be so kind to come around. Each day after that you could find, if you were to look, the back wall of the yard lined with cats and birds all sitting and watching the little dog dance happily around and listening to him say, “Moooooooooooooooooooooooo!”