“Hey Mom, Spencerville life is paw-some! Waking up with the sun, living it up at Paws-A-Latte, and helping run the show at town meetings. Met a bunch of new faces too, all with tales to tell. Missing you, but I’m doing great and even learning new tricks! ❤️Roxy Foo-Foo”

Listen to the story here.

First light. Spencerville wakes up with a yawn, the yellow-orange sun seeping into the town just as Cream Maltese Meadow wakes up with the birds beginning their morning symphony. This place is teeming with energy, as lively pets scuttle about, the doggy equivalent of a bustling metropolis. I’ve been here a while – long enough to partake in the thrilling antics of the town and become a part of its folklore.

There I was, one paw deep in a jar of peanut butter from the Paws-A-Latte, a feeling like I had the world by the tail, standing tall. I saw through the windows the yellow dawn was breaking high and fast over the Greyhound Grove. The air was charged with an electricity, and I was tugging at the leash, the old Rottweiler spirit overpowering the Chow Chow timidness.

And then came the call for a town meeting at Eastern White Westie Woods; the gathering spot for all town decisions. That’s the thing about Spencerville: the sense of democracy lingering heavily in the air, suffused with an infectious spirit of camaraderie. Dogs like me, Roxy the Rottweiler/Chow Chow mix, we had a say in running this paradise-town.

I’d hustle over, I kept thinking, flicking my tail, the blend of energetic and shy that I was known for in my past life taking form. This place had a way of bringing out the politician in all of us pets; it was an entirely different ball game from the fetch Sammy and I used to play in the backyard.

I walked in, the room buzzing already, word was out about a new restaurant near Bow Wow Bistro. I settled into the wooden pew, scanning familiar and unfamiliar faces alike, each with their own story to tell. Interesting, how the deeds of the day paint us a different hue every time the sun goes under.

Every one of us in this town had a tale to tell. Some of loss, others of emancipation, most of them with a sprinkle of longing. We all had our human counterparts back in waking reality, each of them stamping an indelible mark on our characters.

Throughout the day, there would be laughter, random squirts of dog-speak, whining – the whole gamut of emotions. We’d drop by The Barking Boutique and Canine Cafe. After all, who can resist the tantalizing smell of freshly baked treats?

And as night falls, I would stand guard outside the Woof and Whisker Wellness Center – an outpost on the precipice of town energy. It was the dim orange light centred amid the vast black of night, with the sole purpose of reminding us of those across the Rainbow Bridge and towards dawn. The lighthouse of the town.

We hole up in Spencerville, with the knowledge that, someday, we’ll be back with our humans. But, until then, we run the town, we relish the peace, we roar at the moonlight. For we are the dogs, and this, where we are, is a dog’s world. We carry forward our legacy here, in our canine-run Spencerville. It turned out, the old dog could learn new tricks!

The End.