Cujo here. Meet Annie and Gussie. These dogs belong to Miss Martha and Crazy Tom. My Mom and their mom are great friends. That is all good, but Gussie, the terrier, well, I have some issues with that guy.
Last year a dog park went up in our campground. I think this was a great idea. I already have my very own yard that I share with my pack. Every night we run and run. Wall-E and Toni Louise will have a stare down then they chase each other round and round. I join in and we all have a great time. A dog can't do this while on a leash, you know.
But, this is not about the dog park or running. I have been wanting to get this off my chest for some time. This is about Guss. And my person.
This dog, Guss, really likes my mom. Every time he sees her he goes a little nuts. She will call out his name and he will run to her, she will hold him and he will kiss her over and over. I do not like this!!
I tolerate her love for the other dogs in our house. They were, after all, here first. I share my seat next to her with Wall-E. He settles in next to her in her chair and I just settle on top of him. I always know that the morning time and late night is Oscar's time with her. She lifts him into her arms and carries him to bed. She gives him a massage over his old muscles and kisses him atop his old head. I confess that I do not like it when Toni Louise wants to cuddle with her. Toni Louise is Daddy's dog. She is his favorite. He is her person. When ever Toni tries to snuggle with my mom in the bed, I always nudge her out of the way.
But this little love affair between Guss (she insists on calling him Gussie in this sick little sing-song voice) must be controlled! We went to see Miss Martha one day and I was sitting quietly in my mom's lap when this Guss fellow jumped up on her lap next to me! I was appalled! How dare he!!
I growled and let him know I objected to his presence, but he seemed not to care. Not only that, sometimes I smell him on my mom when she comes inside! She is cheating on me with another dog!
Oscar told me that I am suffering from an acute case of jealousy and that I should get over myself. Easy for him to say. He has been sharing his person for years!
It is me again .... Cujo. Since coming to live in a campground my life is very different. It is not that I live in a campground, mind you, it is because I am loved.
Last time I was here I told you how I got my name. I also told you that my Mommy said it was ironic. I had no clue what that word even meant and I was so happy to be with my forever person that I didn't care. But Wall-E and I have had some long conversations about life since then. Wall-E may not be the alpha dog in this house, but he is very smart. He even wrote a book!!
Seems there was a movie about a big dog named Cujo. I am not big. The dog in the movie is a St. Bernard and I am a Dachshund. Very different in size. I thought maybe that was the ironic part, but there is more. In the movie the big dog, Cujo has rabies and is crazed as he attacks everyone and everything he sees! The irony is that Cujo, the movie dog was not afraid of anything and I, Cujo am afraid of everything! Get it?
Wall-E has a boy. I personally cannot understand why any dog would want one. I do not care for children. They scare me. They run at me and try to grab me and I end up wetting myself. Wall-E tells me his boy is very gentle and loving, but I still prefer older ladies. He told me that his boy could not keep him in his apartment and that Gramma and Papa drove many hours to get him and bring him home to live here. He says that he loves his boy and misses him, but that he still gets to see him.
I vaguely remember meeting his boy last year, but I was still so new here and scared of everything. His boy, Gavin wasn't all that interested in me. He is all into Wall-E. I remember Gavin's mom. She held me a lot and kept asking my Mommy if she could have me. She already has a dog named Max. She can just leave me here. I am fine right here, with my person.
So, I was asking Wall-E about this book he wrote. His picture is on the cover, but not his name. My person's name is on the cover. He tells me that it was a joint effort between him and Gramma. Which made me ask him my next question ...... why does he call her Gramma? He says he is actually her grand-dog because he belongs to Gavin, her grandson. Whatever, it seems very confusing to me.
Because Wall-E wrote a blog that became a book, I asked my person if I could try my hand at this writing thing. Loving me as much as she does, she could not say no. So, now I get to sit on her lap every day and tell her what is on my mind. She does the rest. She has her laptop and she clicks away while I wax eloquent. Oscar told me to say that part. He has lived a long time and knows more words than I do!
Hi, my name is Cujo. I think I have been called by other names, but this is the name I know the best. I don't remember the very first part of my life. I have been told it was not good. I lived with a lot of other dogs and wasn't taken care of. I am glad I don't remember.
About a year ago I came here to live in my forever home. Some people had me and they treated me nice enough, but they didn't really want a little dog such as myself. They fed me and gave me water and a place to sleep, but they kept talking about what "to do" with me. One day, they put me in the car and we drove to a campground. They all wanted to swim and I thought they might be thinking of tossing me into a pool of water ...... and me without my swimming trunks. That is a joke, just so you know.
The mother of the family took me into the office with her. There was a lady behind the desk and the lady holding me said, "This is the dog I was telling you about. See, he has a hernia and needs to be fixed, but we really don't want to spend the money on him. We already have other dogs and don't want to keep him." WHAT??? The lady behind the desk had kind eyes. She looked into my eyes and said, "Aren't you a handsome little fellow!" She reached for me and I climbed into her arms right away. The other lady said I had never done that to anyone else. Well, did she think I did not hear what she said about not wanting me?
The campground lady told her that she would keep me in the store while they were swimming and then make her decision about me. The whole time she was talking she was patting me and holding me close. I was trembling. I was scared to tell you the truth. My whole life, nobody ever wanted me!
When we were alone, the lady sat down in her chair and held me. I thought she might just stick me in a box, but she didn't. She talked to me and stroked me. She told me all bout her other dogs and said that I would have to meet them before she could agree to keep me. All I heard was "keep me". I licked her cheek and that is when she told me I did not smell very good.
I was not offended at all, since the people I had been living with smoked these vile things known as cigarettes. I was not prepared for what happened next, though ......
She never put me down as she gathered towels and dog shampoo and before I knew what had happened I was having a bath! If I had ever had one before, I don't remember it. I was scared at first, but the water was warm and she was very gentle as she scrubbed me from head to toe. She even cleaned inside my ears.
After wrapping me in a nice dry towel, she sat down low enough to meet all of her dogs. There were three of them. I had been around lots of other dogs, but these dogs were different. She talked to them and told them all about me. Wall-E came over and sniffed my arm, then he carefully licked it. He is a funny looking dog. He is bigger than me and has white fur and teary eyes. He told me not to be afraid. He referred to the lady holding as Gramma and told me that she loved dogs. The girl dog, Toni Louise tried to push me out of the way and told me that the lady was her Mommy. She nosed her way under the towel and sniffed my butt. Dogs do that, you know.
The last dog was the big test. If Oscar would not accept me, I would not be able to stay. Oscar is very old. He is almost 15 years old. He was almost 14 years old when I met him. He informed me that he was the boss of this pack. The other two dogs agreed. He came over slowly to inspect me. I was very nervous. He told me that the lady holding me was HIS person. He also called her his Mommy. He said that she had been his person all of his life and that nobody else in the whole world loved him as much as she did. He then sniffed me from head to toe and licked my face. I was afraid to move! I just sat very still until he was done.
The lady told me that Oscar had accepted me and that she would be my Mommy now. I was still very scared, but I looked up at her and she kissed my head. I was really scared of the man that came in to meet me. My new Mommy said he would be my Daddy. I wasn't too keen about that idea. Men scare me. Little children scare me. My Mommy said that I needed a new name and that since I was so afraid of the world, she would call me Cujo. She laughed and said it was ironic ....... she laughs a lot and she kisses me a lot. I like it here and I have decided that she is my person, the one person who loves me the best. I share her with Oscar.
