“Hey folks! Just checking in from Spencerville, where I’m making peace with pet paradise, learning to love my days full of fish ‘n’ biscuits, deep talks with Benny, hidden treats, and some cowboy tunes. Reflecting under the stars each night, I realize there’s nowhere else I’d rather be! Love and tail wags, your Bear Cub.”

Listen to the story here

It was a blazing hot day in Spencerville, a paradise for the departed pets, where I, Vincent, a Newfoundland as big and pretty as the highest mesa, was starting off my day. A day that had promise, maybe some high jinks, all in the shadow of the Western Fawn Pug Palace.

I’d trotted my way over to Sniff ‘n’ Snack, the best diner West of Labradoodle Lake, my tongue hanging out, hankering for some fish n’ biscuits. “The usual, Vin?” the collie waitress wagged, not waiting for my nod to whisk away my order.

Wandering over to the Pampered Pooch Salon, my friend Benny the Bichon was waxing philosophical. “You ever notice, Vin,” he began, “that although we miss our folks, we’re sort of…okay with this life?”

I contemplated, ear-flicking at my stubborn freckles, and he knew I agreed. It’s a comfort knowing we’d see them again, not a worry. The waiting, is the hardest part.

“Speaking of wait,” Benny continued, fetchin’ my favorite pickle toy from behind the counter, “It ain’t a waiting game if you’ve got treats!”

Benny knew well my yearning for prying hidden treats outta that toy. Aside from the company of his sister, Princess Victoria, and lounging on the couch back home, there was nothin’ that curled my tail quite like getting at those treats.

Around the corner, as I strolled past The Tail Wagger’s Tailor, I heard a string-wrangling tune that made me sway. It seemed a bit familiar, then I remembered. It was the kind I heard back during those car-rides with the family…

Evening was falling as I moseyed back to my resting place. Grinning at the bright stars above, which seemed to wink back at me, I couldn’t help but feel that ol’ Pug Palace tug.

Although there was an appeal to the Tan Dalmatian Desert, I always found solace knowing my place was here, close to the woof and woof of Spencerville’s heart. Besides, my allergies ain’t gonna stand a second in those dusty grounds.

Just as I popped a dental bone into my mouth, ready for my night ritual, flashes of my day zipped by. Every sight, every scent, every laugh, every friend – all fit together like pieces in a puzzle, painting a picture of my peculiar yet contented existence.

This here was my day as Vincent, the cheerful Newfoundlander reining in a cowboy’s paradise named Spencerville. Each day comes with a new sunset, a new story. But for today, the moon shines over, ushering me to cozily curl in, waiting for another adventure in the comforting cowboy pet lands of Spencerville. After all, there ain’t no other paradise I’d rather be.

The End.