A Frog's World

By Fred

Yes, the water falls from the sky in big drops. It soaks through the patio stones. The bushes droop under its weight, and the frogs have a new-found confidence because a wet back yard is a frog's favorite world. It is not Jam's world.

Jam prefers to stay inside when it rains. He will reluctantly go out to sit on the porch, but he will not venture beyond on his own, not without a leash, and then with a leash he will only walk along sadly and sigh. He will not pee or poop, not in the backyard when it is raining.

Then at bedtime he is given one more chance. Cheryl and I take turns with an umbrella, giving him all the various encouragements, lies, threats, reassurances, feigned indifference, etc. that we can imagine, because we know that he really needs to go and that the next opportunity will be early the next morning, or rather when he wakes us in the middle of the night, or worse.

And then we remember that our front yard is in a completely different universe for Jam. In the front yard, which is just as rainy and wet, he has no problem at all. Jam is keen to walk along and sniff at every soaking thing, as long as it's not in the back yard.

At the garage door I hold his leash in one hand and the umbrella in the other, and he is thrilled with the idea of walking out into the pouring rain, walking down the sidewalk and into the black night. Within 30 seconds he pees and poops.

Surely we have done something wrong...

Courage from Friends

Thursday morning. In Clearwater it was dark, stormy and filled with driving rain. AT 5:25 am I hurried down the stairs with two dogs who had to pee urgently. We ran to the French doors.

I had them sit and opened the doors. The sound of rain pouring off the awning filled the family room and there was a booming crack of thunder. Her Royal Highness jerked her head up to me as if to say, "How rude. Loud noises in the morning."

"Forward." Everyone piled out onto the porch. I stayed on the porch. Willow ran off into the inky darkness and HRH, with only a tiny look backwards, followed her. Then about then seconds later, a wet black seal appears at the side of the patio in the bushes (HRH soaking wet), and starts to pee.

"Good busy busy!" I say to encourage her going to the bathroom in the pouring rain. Just in the middle of her pee there is a major lightening flash. HRH stutters and I can see that she is thinking "PEE FASTER!!!" For in 2 seconds she is finished and on the porch waiting to be let in the house. Willow comes back a few seconds later.

After breakfast, HRH usually has to go again immediately (royalty doesn't put off unpleasant tasks evidently). So she goes over to the door and sits. I let her out and she steps onto the porch and stares into the dark rain and listens to the thunder with just a little shiver. She looks back at me and turns around. She has decided that poo can wait. Then Willow races through the open door and disappears into the rain and the black night. HRH looks at me. Her spine stiffens. She turns around and runs after Willow.

About ten seconds later, a black wet seal appears at the side of the porch and does a little circle to poo. In the middle of the poo a terrific clap of thunder occurs (right over our house)! "POO FASTER!!!!"