“Dad, had a wild day! Found myself leading a mission to rescue Whippersnapper, the Whippet, from North Kitten Corner! Me, the Bulldog who does nothing more strenuous than fetch. Normal chaos ensued but mission successful. Now celebrating with tail waggers at the diner. P.S. Pawsburg isn’t just grass, it’s home. – Fatty Herm”

Listen to the story here.

The sun had barely touched the night-kissed sky of Pawsburg when I heard the familiar clunks of Herm the Bulldog. His snuffles echoed off the still buildings of our nighttime utopia. “Not too early for adventure, Herm!” I called out from my spot at Black Bulldog Bay.

Herm mumbled something that sounded a lot like, “Zippy, I swear fetch is turning into a curse rather than a hobby.”

The thing you must understand about Herm is, he’s a dog of complexities. Have you ever tried threading a square peg into a round hole? That’s Herm for you – a big, wrinkled, square peg of an English Bulldog with a heart larger than Pawsburg itself.

And believe me, Pawsburg isn’t a mere patch of grass. It’s our little haven, a twilight city from the dreams of every canine. It’s where, after nights of chasing tennis balls across gleaming floorboards and defending luxurious backyards, we dance, pant and plate up pancakes at Pawsome Pancakes. It’s where the stories of our daytime lives become folklore, spun across the Pup-Cakes counter, forgotten at the foot of the Siberian Summit and regaled at the South Poodle Pond.

Today, our Pawsburg adventure had barely started when Dottie, in her demure Dachshund way, shared some grave news. Whippersnapper, the dynamic young Whippet, was missing. Captured, she said, by some hoodlums up North Kitten Corner.

Herm, always the taciturn watcher, huffed audibly. “Darn feline land, why does Whippersnapper always run off towards trouble?”

So, stemming from our usual sitcom escapades, our mission kicked off. A pet rescue expedition ready to rival ‘Mission Impossible.’ Dubbed as the ‘Broccoli Incident’ by us, it led us away from the comfort of the Doggie Daycare and out of our warm flannel blankets.

Fat Herm, not an inch his animated self, was soon squeezing through the notorious cat tunnels, groaning, “We dogs are going to the gallows for sure… Can’t allow a fellow pup to get trounced by those arrogant kittens, can we?”

From tromping through squeaky toys at the Wagging Tail Bookstore to tailing Happy Hounds Dog Walkers, Herm hung on. And oh, the irony! Herm, notoriously known for his aversion to any physical activity more strenuous than a leisurely game of fetch, found himself at the forefront of the daring mission.

Yet, with all our comedic turns, near misses and a lot of huffing from Herm, Whippersnapper was rescued. A jig later, normalcy resumed with us partaking tail waggers at the local diner. A day in our lives at Pawsburg may seem chaotic from afar, but it’s rife with adventure, friendship, pancakes, and most importantly – a sense of belonging. A ‘Mission Possible,’ in the true sense, with a generous dose of laughs!

The End.