Better pets: a dog's tale

Cynthia Howland

There was a dog named Little John because he was so big! He liked to run and bounce and play, but he was so large that sometimes his bounces got in the way of tables and chairs and even people. Happily he lived with a family who were used to big dogs and to just picking up themselves and the chairs if they got knocked over. ...

The big black dog was very gentle with the two small children in the family. He let them play and snuggle with him. Nor did he ever get in the way of the four cats in the family—Sam, Allard, Tigger, and Tiger.

But there was one big problem with Little John: he had to let all the dogs in the neighborhood know that he was the biggest and the fiercest of them all. He got into some fights, so the family installed a wire between two trees that his leash could be hooked onto. In that way he could be outside where he wanted to be, but his people could know where he was. Little John was happy with this arrangement and spent long hours outside snoozing or walking about on his line.

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