Hey Hooman,

Elementary, my dear Watson! I’ve gone from floor-lounger to detective dober-diva, sniffing out inter-dimensional mysteries in Pawsburgh. Today’s caper? A mysterious portal, lemons forbidden, an adventure with four paws up! The ‘Pawsburgh Files’ have nothing on us. Stay tuned for tail-wagging tales.

Detective Snoots (a.k.a ANNIE) 🐾🔍🚀✨

Listen to the story here

It was a rather peculiar day in Pawsburgh—peculiar because for the first time in what seemed like forever, the sun decided to play hide-and-seek behind the clouds, making my usual spot on the living room floor rather drab. But peculiar because today, there was something afoot in this canine utopia, something that would require a detective with a nose for the unexplained. That would be me, Annie, the Black Doberman with a penchant for mystery and a distaste for lemons.

You know, X-Files always fascinated the humans, with their tales of the weird and bizarre. Well, Pawsburgh had its own blend of enigmas, and who better to unravel them than yours truly—along with my ragtag team of four-legged sleuths.

I left the confines of my cozy suburban nook, adorned with that enigmatic white picket fence, and headed over to Opal Pomeranian Park. There, amidst the backdrop of perfectly placed trees and the occasional frisbee defying the laws of physics, I met my trusted associate, Bruno. His droopy eyes today seemed droopier than usual—a sure sign of mystery in the air.

“Annie, you’ve got to see this,” Bruno rumbled in a voice that could cause a mild earthquake. He was standing over something at Pinscher Plaza, something that was decidedly not canine in nature.

“What’s that?” I asked, approaching the object of mass confusion carefully. Before us lay a strange, mirror-like object, shimmering in tones of silver and blue, and upon closer inspection, it wasn’t reflecting our bemused expressions back at us—rather, it seemed to lead somewhere else, somewhere… not of Pawsburgh.

“We’ve got to investigate,” I stated, the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention, ready for whatever inter-dimensional dog treats lay beyond.

But before jumping into the unknown, one must always fortify oneself—mother’s words, not mine. So we trotted to Wagging Whisk to mull over a plan with a side of kibble. Pixie was already there, nibbling on a biscuit, tinier than your average strudel, dictating orders to the sheepish waitstaff.

“Mirror, smirror,” she dismissed with a paw wave, once we explained. “Probably just one of Pet Partners’ newfangled toys.”

I couldn’t agree. My senses tingled with the taste of adventure—or was that just peanut butter residue from last night’s indulgence? No matter, for Max soon lumbered in, his fur holding remnants of oak leaves and his words carrying wisdom as old as the Sheepdog lineage itself.

“Otherworlds exist,” he said, with the gravity of one who had taken too many naps to be considered coincidental. “I dreamt of such a portal, shiny like a giant, unattainable treat.”

Equipped with our existential angst and the feeling we were protagonists in our own pet version of an Adams’ novel, we approached the mirror again. The air around it was charged with the electric anticipation of something truly out of this world.

“We going through or what?” Pixie asked, impatient as ever, her paw tapping the ground like Morse code for ‘Let’s get on with it.’

Summoning the bravery that hid beneath my sleek, shiny coat, I nosed the portal. Upon contact, a ripple shivered across its surface, and suddenly, we were not in Pawsburgh anymore. A land of unimaginable sights unfolded before us—no, not the eternal squirrel chase I had daydreamed about but a realm where hydrants were abundant and lemons were outlawed.

As we ventured into the unknown, my heart pounded to the rhythm of ‘Pawsburgh Files’—our very own unsolved mystery on paw. Let it be known, should you ever find a strange, shiny object in your dog’s park, beware of the adventure that awaits.

Suffice it to say, by the time we returned, Pawsburgh was clung to the shadow of the evening, and we had tales that Ella would never believe. But between us, we knew the truth was out there. And it was, indeed, stranger than fiction.

The End.