“Hey pup, Cap, here. So Dutch got himself caught sniffing around Muldoon’s lettuce farm. Swapped burgers for courage, rallied the pack, and led a heroic mission – as unexpected as eating a veggie treat. Broke Dutch out, gripped in the jaws of lettuce doom. Now hailed as Pawsburg’s official lettuce-fearing, friend-rescuing, story-spinning hero. Who knew? Paw-five me later – Cap.”

Listen to the story here

That night, as Pawsburg bathed in a silvery glow, a grave incident occurred. And by the gods of furred folk and more, who else but Dutch, the Staffie renegade, got himself captured.

You see, Dutch had been doing a reconnaissance mission around the Golden Gate Gardens, marking territories and all, when he overstayed his welcome. He was nabbed by the wretched Trapper Muldoon, the mythical organic lettuce farmer all Pawsburg dogs had a fright of. You’d remember Muldoon, manipulated his crops with serenades of Mozart, the lettuce-loving eccentric. Didn’t bode well for us meat lovers.

To a being like myself, if the sky was the limit, then Pup ‘n’ Go Taco Joint was destiny-bound after midnight. But with the horrifying news, I had to swap my taco dreams, for a goblet of courage from Bow Wow Burgers instead. The crowd was mute; Coco, the Shih Tzu elegantly sipped her Vanilla Puppuccino, hiding her worries behind those fluffy frills.

Diamond, a.k.a ‘Dimi-Queen’, was at ease – slurping The Barking Boutique’s latest frock or nibbling on an indigenous delicacy, she was simplicity personified. And then there was Red, oh big beast Red wasn’t very expressive, he sat there munching on his hefty chunk of a burger, his eyes glinting in the nightlight.

Now, embarking on a rescue mission was new ground for me. I was a merry wanderer, a delightful rogue, and rescuer of fluffy toys lost under beds, but a real-life hero? That was a leap even I hadn’t dreamt of. Yet there was a pulsing vein of thrill in it.

“Friends,” I exclaimed—from atop the Bow Wow counter, my burger sitting heroically beside me, “tonight’s the night when we reclaim Dutch, our friend and ally, the spinner of tails and a stick fetcher of no small talent. Into the mouth of dread, we venture.”

“Woof”, agreed Red, a smudge of ketchup at the corner of his impassive mouth.

“I haven’t finished talking Red.”

Dimi sighed, “Capone, when do you ever?”

And so it began, an adventure that had us traipsing through the endearing labyrinth of Pugs Palace, sneaking through the ethereal Eastern White Westie Woods. We ducked under Muldoon’s menacing “Extinguishers Of Intruders” painting, and clambered past the ghastly inflatable lettuce protectors till we reached the looming shadow of the Trapper’s Shack, right in the heart of the Golden Gate Gardens.

Averting my eyes from the horrifying lettuce fields, I gestured to Coco. Operating on an unmatched frequency of fluff and innocence, her job was crucial – causing a diversion.

And while compound’s eyes were drawn to Coco’s orchestrated chaos, Red and Dimi stealthily broke Dutch free.

Rescue? Mission accomplished.

Sometimes in Pawsburg, a hero is not one who sets out to become one, but one who’s burgled into it. Much like me, Capone, now hailed in soft echoes throughout Pawsburg as the daring lettuce-fearing, friend-rescuing, story-spinning doggo-hero. Admittedly, it had a nice ring to it.

The End.

Share This Story: