The Dog Ate My Homework

The Puppy Chronicles #1

The expression “the dog ate my homework” takes a whole new meaning when you actually have a new puppy in your home. Why would anybody otherwise believe that a dog can actually eat paper? As January went by silently from our side, and complicatedly in the world as Omicron swept us all away, we thought that the dog was a good enough excuse why nothing was produced last month. The world was just too sick and heavy to continue. A break, even though it might’ve been forced upon us or brought to us by Mercury retrograde, was actually very welcome.

That said, we really have to blame the puppy also, it wasn’t just corona or astrology. Since the dog entered our lives, life as we knew it stopped. Our journey with the dog so far went something like this:

• Aww puppy!
  

• Let’s sell the puppy, we can get even more money back.
  

• Aww puppy! He only pees once a day now on the carpets, and poops indoors every ten days. (Oh, that’s what everyone meant by the so-called accidents!)
  

• Everybody who doesn’t help with the puppy should be sold for a lot more money!!!
  

• Aww puppy….

And such is life when something new comes our way or challenges us. The life that no one ever warns us about or for some reasons doesn’t tell us about but every new experience brings a new set of hardships and lessons our way.

The Dog Ate My Homework, courtesy of Tarantula: Authors and Art

Most days with the puppy, there just isn’t enough time for anything else. What can be more important than watching a puppy jump for many minutes and wag its tail for many other minutes when you give him a bone that reminds of a prosciutto wrapped prune? Or when he really chews on some paper, in this case a few children’s books (more about that shortly)? Who needs to go to the gym when you have to go out 7-9 times a day for longer or shorter walks: can that count as interval running?

In less than a month of discovering the world through his POV (point of view), the puppy became a teacher of some kind providing us with the following wisdom:

1. January was a month for purging emails and unsubscribing from all the subscriptions that got us through the last two years because:
   a) who has time; and
   b) aren’t all of them just trying to simplify our lives and make us more present at any given moment? Well, thank them very much but the dog is now here to remind us to live, walk, breathe and not to be overwhelmed by numerous gurus aka people who spin the same repetitious messages.

2. Walking the dog makes us break into a song or whistle a melody after many years of purely silent “destination or how many steps focused” meandering throughout the city. It is proven that voicing our emotions and music itself affect our mood positively, inspiring joy; it also checks off  the goal from our schedules to enter art daily into our lives.

3. For now the dog engages in small talk, but we predict a life companion that will inspire many philosophical thoughts and conversations, new ideas and inspiration; possibly turning the chronicles into a monthly entry: some kind of a spiritual journey might be on the horizon, but we will leave the plot line for the puppy to decide.

4. The books that the puppy nibbled on were not just serendipitous …

   
   “The Moon Is Going to Addy’s House” by Ida Pearle, beautifully illustrated by Ida Pearle herself who is a fine artist for children, a reminder that with the moon following us, we are never alone.

   
   “Pirate, Viking & Scientist” by Jared Chapman, a funny story about a boy scientist using his scientific methods to prove that the pirate and viking can both be his best friends, without them fighting about it!
   

… the puppy chose them mindfully! After these few years of isolation due to corona and the current political situation - the world being on the brink of yet another war, maybe these books and their stories have the necessary messages and simpler solutions.

This puppy is already taking centre stage and he just might be the hero we all awaited, the guru, the messiah, The Dog.

The Dog, courtesy of Tarantula: Authors and Art

This article comes with a warning: as wonderful as it is to have teachers and heroes in our lives, they require a lot of care and request a lot of catering to their needs; or putting it plainly they are a lot of work!

For some shameless bragging, our writer Maja Milanovic’s poetic short “The Language of Strawberries” is now published by The Stripes Magazine on https://amzn.to/3KWVNZ or here
https://www.amazon.com/Nowhere-Near-Home/dp/B09QNZWTVY

To read the interview with Maja for that occasion click here: https://medium.com/thestripesmag/freedom-to-do-something-i-love-an-interview-with-maja-milanovic-e6e3aea72e82

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