Daisy's Story

My Daddy was a very special daddy. He's the only two-legger who really understood me. They call themselves "people." You know how easy it is to talk to other four-leggers, and how hard it is sometimes to talk to people. My Daddy and I could talk as well as if he were a four-legger. Their word for us, by the way, is "dog." I learned a lot of their language from my Daddy. He was very smart that way, telling me things so I could understand them. And I'm pretty smart too, and I have a fantastic memory.

My Daddy found me in a cage, captured by the people, who were probably going to kill me. I was just a scared pup, alone and confused. He rescued me and then I rescued him, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'd lived with some other people, but they were mean, so I ran away. I don't remember a whole lot about those times, and that's good, I think. Scavenging for food at night, people yelling and throwing things and sometimes even shooting at me.

I used to dream about those times and wake up screaming, but my Daddy was always there, beside me in the bed, rubbing my head and telling me it was all right. And then it was. He was such a good Daddy.

Let me start at that scene in the cage. Daddy and his Alpha Female - I won't call her my Mommy - found me in this place full of caged dogs. Even though I'd met so many bad people, I just knew he was a good one. A very good one. I wanted to join his pack, and he wanted me in it. I was a very happy little girl. But right away I saw a problem. Alpha Female wasn't a nice person. Daddy had made a mistake when he picked her out. I still don't know how people choose their mates. Just one sniff and I knew that this wasn't a good union, but people can't sniff like we can.

No, we're not better than people. Just different. You're too young to have lived with other dogs before. But some are better at running and some at seeing and some at fighting and some at smelling and some at hearing. It's the same when we live with people. We're better at some stuff, like hearing and seeing and smelling danger. They're better at moving stuff and bringing home food and grooming us. My Daddy was really good at building stuff for the home, or even whole buildings in the yard. I loved watching him work, and he loved it when I watched him.

My point is, it's always best to have dogs and people in the pack. But sometimes, I think, people don't understand what being in a pack is all about. My Daddy knew. That's part of what made him special.

After a while, Daddy and Alpha Female came back with a person who could unlock the cage, and a leash and a collar. I was a little bit scared because bad things always happened to me with those on. But I could smell Daddy telling me that all would be okay, so that helped.

Alpha Female put the leash and collar on me, and I got scared. But I decided right then and there to make a statement. You know how packs are, no matter what animals are in them. You have to establish your place right away. The first impression you make on the others is everything. Then you have to follow it up every time it's challenged.

I hugged the ground and refused to move. Alpha Female was yelling at me, quiet at first and then louder. She had this voice that always hurt my ears, high-pitched and not very nice. I didn't know what she was saying. All people sounded like random noise to me then.

Like when pups are first born, like you not very long ago, they make all that noise but don't know how to talk yet. Most people are like that all the time. But not really. They have their own language. It's different from ours, but to them it's a language. But I didn't know that yet. I was just a pup myself back then.

Finally, Alpha Female gave up. She gave Daddy the leash. I sprang to my feet and ran out in front of him, tail and head held high, like I'd seen other dogs do with people. He was happy, and that made me happy.

I love cars. That's a people word again. See that big shiny thing over there? They call that a truck. A car's pretty much the same, just smaller but with more room inside. Trucks are for carrying and pulling stuff.

Okay, I love cars and trucks. Going that fast without having to run is great. I can't even run as fast as cars can go. It's especially fun when the windows are down, so you can smell everything and not just see it. People don't realise that because they don't smell like we do.

I rode in my Daddy's lap - he was driving - and just took in all the sights and smells. That could have been scary, all that people stuff out there, but I knew I was safe with Daddy.

It would be a long time before I learned that I could be safe without my Daddy. One part of being in a pack is raising the pups so that, one day, they can leave the pack and be safe on their own. Well, after my Daddy raised me, I'm the one who had to chase him away. But that comes later.

We had a hard time back at his den. When I got scared, I peed right there on the floor. And whenever that happened, Alpha Female would yell at me and scare me and make me pee some more. Then she'd yell some more and I'd pee some more and... I don't want to think about it. But it was bad.

There were other problems, too. They put this bowl out on the floor, and it always had food in it. But I didn't know that. I'd grab some and run off to eat it, like I used to do. I'd sleep in the day and eat at night, because that was safer before I got captured. But they didn't do that. So I had to adjust to them. I finally learned that it was okay their way. Everything was always safe now.

I knew that Alpha Female wanted me gone, and that was very hard on me. But Daddy loved me and wanted me to stay. When I was with him, I just wanted to be a good girl and make him happy. And he could tell, so he was happy. Daddy loved my smile. He'd look right in my dark brown eyes and smile back and rub my head whenever I smiled at him. Yeah, every time. And then he'd call me by the name he gave me, "Daisy." I liked how it sounded when he said it. "Daisy."

Finally, Alpha Female decided that Daddy was right and that I should stay. I was such a happy dog in those days. Until the new dog showed up. It's not what you're thinking. They didn't have pups, like most packs do. They would just go out sometimes and bring home a new animal. They had a cat when I got there, and they brought home another every so often, and that was the pack.

You do know what a cat is, don't you? See that little thing over there chasing the birds? The people word for them is "cat." No, don't chase it! You really need to listen to me. If you chase a cat, it'll just run away. That's fun sometimes, sure, but not if you're trying to make friends with it. First you make friends with them, then you can chase them all you want and you'll still be friends.

My Daddy and Alpha Female had me, some cats, some horses. Those are horses over there. Do NOT chase them. See how big they are? Never chase anything that big.

Once my Daddy showed me some pigs. Sometimes he came home smelling like them, so I think he worked with them all day.

What's work? It's a people thing again. It's kind of like hunting down food, but not really. Very hard to explain. But all people do it, and it's important to them. They don't lie around in the sun all day like we do. But in a pack of both people and dogs, they work so we can lie around. You'll learn that most people like feeding dogs.

Daddy loved all animals. But I was his favourite. Or so I thought, until he brought home that other dog. One day, without any warning or anything, he walked in the door carrying this little black puppy in his arms, cradling her like a baby. She was hugging his neck and licking his face. I was a pup when he brought me home, you know. I thought I was being replaced.

That pup was Bebe, by the way. Just look at her over there, swimming in the pond again. I don't know why she loves the water so much. I don't like getting wet.

But look at her. Short hair, not long and silky and shiny like mine. She's even blacker than I am. Daddy always liked rubbing my white chest and this white paw here, but Bebe's just black. And those long ears, almost touching the ground, just hanging there, not up and over like mine. See how her body's thicker than mine, but she's got those short legs. And her eyes look like they're going to pop right out of her head. I've seen a lot of dogs, but none that looked like her before.

So I hated that funny-looking little mutt. I had to show her right away that she was not welcome in my pack. The little mutt would eat my food. But mostly, she was stealing all my Daddy's attention. I mean, this little intruder was ALWAYS needing attention.

Daddy didn't like it when I got mad at Bebe. But he never wanted to drive me from the pack, though. I figured it out. Daddy and Alpha Female were away from the den a lot, leaving me alone. This little dog was supposed to be my friend while they were away.

They used to put me in a cage while they were gone. It was outside, and it was bigger than the house, but it was still a cage. When they first got me, I used to get bored and tear stuff up, and they didn't like that. They gave me lots of stuff that it was okay to chew on, and I figured that out, but still, I had to live in my cage.

It wasn't long after Bebe showed up that she proved her usefulness. I still didn't like her, of course. She could stay, I decided, because Daddy said she could. But she would always have to know that she was Omega. Bottom of the pack. And she did. She never gave me any trouble. Probably because I was a lot bigger and older.

One day, I was in the cage, in the shelter that Daddy had put in it for me. Bebe was in the cage, outside the shelter, because she was Omega. She was sniffing at the metal cage, trying to dig her way out. She's got a great digging nose. But I knew it wouldn't work. I used to dig out every day, but Daddy finally fixed it so I couldn't dig my way out anymore.

Then Bebe started biting the metal. I just had to laugh at the stupid little pup. I knew that would never work. Metal is a lot harder than teeth. We all know that, don't we? Of course we do. We've all tried it.

But guess what? Bebe chewed a hole in the metal. She's a funny little dog, you know, with some weird mix in her that doesn't belong together. She leaps almost as far and runs almost as fast as I do, and she's got really short legs. She leaps through the air. She sees worse than a human, but she hears better than I do. You know how good I can smell, but she's a lot better. She's got this long wiggly nose that digs hard and fast, like it was made for pulling little food animals out of the ground.

And Bebe has very hard teeth and strong jaws. I've never seen a dog eat a big chewbone so fast. Before the day was over, she'd chewed a big hole in the metal so we could both get out of the cage. She really could have made the hole big enough just for her, and I'd have been stuck in the cage. But she knew that we were in a pack, and that I outranked her, so she had to let me out too. She wasn't the smartest dog I've ever met, but she did know the rules of the pack. I taught her well.

I'm a very smart dog. Did I tell you that? I'm smarter than any other dog I've ever met, and most people. I think Daddy's smarter than I am, but I don't really know. He did need my help, after all, to get rid of that wrong Alpha Female and then to leave the pack and let me be the Alpha.

Do you know about streets? About cars that go by so fast, and how they'll hit you if you get in their way? I always knew that, because of my life before the pack. Bebe didn't have a clue, so I taught her real fast. Then we just played in the big yard all day, and we were waiting on the porch when Daddy and Alpha Female came home.

I was a little scared, because they'd gotten mad at me before. Especially Alpha Female. If Daddy got mad, he'd tell me and I'd promise to do better and that was it. He'd let me right back into the pack like a good Daddy. But Alpha Female would be mad for a long time. I'd tell her and tell her that I would do better, and she wouldn't listen. I'd forget why she was mad before she'd finally stop being mad. I didn't like her. I think she knew it, even though I tried not to tell her, because that'd just make her madder.

So there I was on the porch, acting happy and smiling my winning smile but still scared. Bebe didn't have enough sense to be scared. Her "training" was much easier than mine. She's never known how rough life can be with people sometimes, but she was about to find out.

You'll never guess what happened. Alpha Female got mad at Daddy because we were loose. I don't know why being loose was a problem. Daddy always let me out loose in the yard, alone, to go mark the territory. Maybe they were afraid I'd get hit by a car, even though I always knew better than to go near them. Knowing Daddy, that was probably it.

They just took us into the den with them, and everything was fine with me and Bebe. Alpha Female was mad at Daddy - she was mad at him a lot of the time. I didn't understand why he kept her around.

The next day, they let us stay in the den. I was very happy. Soft places to lie down, cold water, no bugs in the food, the lights that aren't hot like the sun, air that's always the right temperature. I could always look out the windows, but I was always safe. And everything inside always smelled like my Daddy, because that's where he lived. He was never in the cage except to fix it. I loved it in the den.

I had to teach Bebe not to chew on stuff, especially with HER teeth. Everything in the den's easier to chew than metal, so she could have destroyed anything and everything. But she learned quickly. I made sure of it. So we got to live in the den all day every day after that. It was great.

That's something people don't understand. It really doesn't matter who they're mad at. If they're mad, it smells so strong that I get upset. So if they got mad at Bebe for chewing something, I didn't like it. Or when Alpha Female was mad at Daddy. The den always smelled bad when she was in it. But like I said before, they can't smell things the way we can. And she walked too loud. Daddy was quiet when he walked, almost like a cat.

It took a long time for Daddy to get rid of Alpha Female. Really, I don't know how much I helped him decide to do that. I just always walked up to him and told him I loved him. And he always rubbed me and called me a good girl. I hoped he'd realise that this is what an Alpha Female is supposed to do, not be mad all the time.

So finally we had a real pack. Me, my Daddy, and Bebe. Alpha Female even took the cats and the horses. And most of the furniture. But Daddy kept our bed. Me and Bebe always slept in the bed with Daddy. Alpha Female had her own bed, and Daddy got rid of it when she left. Daddy kept our couch, and something the people call a "beanbag" for us. That's all we needed. There was always too much of this "furniture" in the den before, anyway.

Later, we all moved to a new den. It was smaller, but I liked it anyway. You know how people smell, especially some. They put stuff on just to change how they smell. And then they go somewhere else, and the place smells like them even when they're gone. Forever, I think.

Daddy was the Alpha Male. I was the new Alpha Female. Bebe was still Omega, but she was also Beta Female. And the new den didn't smell like anybody except us. We were a very happy pack.

The old den was a long way from work, so Daddy would leave early and come home late. The new den was so close that he would leave later in the morning and come home before dark and sometimes visit in the middle of the day. Then he'd laugh at me and Bebe because we were sleeping.

It was a small den, and there were no woods around it. Just the dens of other packs. We could hear people and dogs while Daddy was at work, and we'd always bark at them just to let them know we were there and that they should stay away. That was something I taught Bebe a long time ago. When she was a pup, she never wanted to bark. She'd listen to stuff and try to see it, and when she could finally see it, she'd puff up her long round muscular body and glare mean like I taught her. But she wouldn't bark. I had to do all the barking. Then I taught her to do it for me, and I'd just chime in every now and then to let whoever it was know there was a pack here and not just a lone dog. Then they'd get the message.

Daddy took me and Bebe to where he worked once, but I didn't like it there. I could smell that there were usually lots of people around, but when he took us, nobody else was there. It was big and dark and quiet, with hard floors and scary stairs that I couldn't climb. I didn't like it at all. So I told my Daddy, and we left. I could always talk to my Daddy, just like he was a dog instead of a person. I loved him for that.

It's hard to explain this next part, but I have to. This is the part where I told my Daddy to leave the pack. We were the happiest pack in the world, I know. But my Daddy would be happier if he left, and the pack would be okay because I would make sure of it. He didn't know, so I had to tell him.

In all the years I was with Daddy, he had this thing where he'd sit at it and stare at it and push a bunch of buttons. Have you ever heard that constant clicking noise they make? I used to see Daddy sitting at that thing - he called it a "computer" - staring and clicking.

I'd walk up to him and tell him I love him. He'd reach down and rub me and tell me I'm a good girl, like always, but then he'd go right back to that staring and clicking. That computer is the only thing that I couldn't pull him away from. I don't know what he was doing there, but it was really important to him, so that was fine.

Not long before I helped drive out that other Alpha Female, though, things changed. I could smell all kinds of new smells coming from him when he used the computer.

Before, it was always like he was "working" on it. He'd be using it and be annoyed, like he didn't like what he was doing there. That's why I'd go interrupt him so much, because I thought he should be happy loving his Daisy instead of working all the time.

But this was different. He was always smelling happy now. I didn't think he was working anymore. He was doing something else. I don't know what, but I was glad it made him happy.

After I took over as Alpha Female, there were other changes. Do you know about telephones? Oh, I know you've seen them. A person holds this thing up to his ears and mouth, then talk and be quiet, talk and be quiet. I've learned that there's another person in another den somewhere, also holding a telephone, and that they're talking to each other.

I told you, people talk. Those funny sounds you hear are their way of talking. Like when they always call me "Daisy." Every person has his own name, and they give their dogs names, too. You'll get one soon, I know. All dogs do. It just takes people a while to think of them.

All those sounds that people make are talking, not just your name or food-words and stuff. I can tell you why it's so hard for us to learn the language of people. They've got so many words, so many more than we do. And then they never say them the same way every time. Oh, they think they do. To their ears, it probably sounds like they do. But they don't hear as well as we do.

With those telephones, they can even talk to people who aren't there. People are really smart with stuff like that. You know how they make lights go on and off whenever they want. The next time one does that, look at him. He's touching something on the wall to do that.

People make stuff better than any dog ever will. It's because they've got hands - the same reason they run so slow - and also because they can talk, just like we do when we hunt or herd. I'll teach you to herd when you're a little older, just like I taught Bebe. Then we can go herd some cats.

So anyway, Daddy was talking to a new person on the telephone. I talked to this new person a few times, too. Her voice was just like my Daddy's. Okay, not at all like my Daddy's. But I could listen to it and not know what she was saying and just like hearing it anyway. That way, it was like my Daddy's.

Daddy told me her name a few times, but I can't remember it. Probably because I never saw her or sniffed her. Like I said, people can remember so many more words than dogs can, so I choose the ones to remember carefully. That way, I could still understand Daddy when he threw a bunch of strange new words into his talk.

So my Daddy found this new person, a new female, and she made him happy without ever being there. Daddy tried to tell me where she was a few times. Me and Daddy and Bebe and the Alpha Female that I helped drive away got in the car a few times and went to see Alpha Female's parents. It took all day to drive there. They had a nice dog and a mean cat. Daddy tried to tell me that this new female was a LOT farther away. I didn't understand the rest, but I don't even think a car can get there because there's lots of water in between.

He was so happy whenever he talked to this female on the telephone. I think they even talked on the computer somehow. I know it sounds crazy, but what about this? I told you how telephones work. Maybe computers work that way, too. Maybe there's someone else on another computer somewhere, and the people are talking through those.

I know what you mean. I've wondered about that one myself. How can they be talking if there's nothing to hear? Just clicking and staring. But sometimes I look at what people are doing and I think that maybe they have another way of talking, where they can look at something instead of hearing something. I'm not sure how to explain it myself. Just watch people sometime and think about it.

So how did I drive Daddy away? Well, I just kept telling him that it would be okay if he went to that other female. I don't know if he understood. With most people, of course, they usually don't and you just know they don't. But with Daddy, he always understood everything I'd ever told him before. Just like I always understood him. He was a very special Daddy.

But this time, I didn't know. It was a very confusing time. I mean, Daddy rescued me from a little cage in a place full of dogs in little cages. I know they killed dogs there sometimes. Daddy gave me everything I could want. Food, water, a nice den, and lots of love.

Even Bebe, who seemed like a curse at the time but, in the end, was a wonderful addition to the pack. So Daddy knew better than me that time. He did that lots of times, knowing what I wanted even when I didn't.

And now here I was, Alpha Female of our happy pack, and I just knew what Daddy wanted even when he didn't. But how to tell him? Even if he were a dog, and he almost was, it'd be hard to explain. But at least I'd know he understood what I was saying. But as a person, did he? I didn't know.

One day, Daddy took me and Bebe to his daddy's house. His daddy is a big, scary man. I mean really big, like a bear. Loud and hairy like one, too, but not mean. He used to yell at me when I was a pup, and I'd pee on his porch because he scared me. But then he'd laugh about it. He really liked me. I could smell that.

Daddy took us to his daddy's house lots of times, and that was great because he had so much room to run. I mean, lots of room to run. Probably more than you'll ever see.

This time, it was different. We followed Daddy into a room. Then he went to the door and turned to us. He told us "goodbye." Bebe probably didn't understand the word, but I did. Daddy walked out the door and closed it behind him. I knew that I would never see my Daddy again.

My Daddy's daddy kept us for a little while, then gave us to some other people, the ones in that house over there who come feed us. So now we live in another nice big den, with a really big yard to run around in. It's even bigger than the one where I lived with Daddy for so long. And see the fence? That means I don't have to worry about you or Bebe running out into the street and getting hit by a car. Daddy never had one of those.

Things are a little different, because we live with people but they're not part of our pack. It's a good set-up, since they give us food and water and stuff, but it'll never be the same as being in a pack with my Daddy.

I don't know where Daddy went. But I know he's with that person he met on the telephone and the computer, and that he's very happy there. Knowing that makes me happy too.

So that's how I drove my Daddy out of the pack and took over. What did you think, I ate him? You are one sick little puppy. I see I'm going to have my paws full teaching you how to live with this pack.