A Reasonably Happy Camper

I went to sleepover camp last night at a pet hotel called Noah's Ark. I'd already been there once a couple of weeks ago for a day camp "trial run." As I've mentioned before, I have separation anxiety issues, and what M and J are doing is trying to prepare me for longer times when I have to be boarded so they can go away on trips. When the lady in charge took me back to the kennel, she told M and J they should stay up front. That way, when they came back later to pick me up, she could go get me, and I'd see them standing there and believe they'd been there the whole time. Hello-o! Did she think I don't understand a word of English? If she's seen my blog, I guess she assumes I pay someone to ghost-write it.

But I went along with her little joke and I must have passed the trial run, because last night was the real deal. I got to take my food and Milk Bones and my blue blanket and blue puppy, and it was a lot like being at home, only in a tiny living room with no rug and no couch and no TV. To tell the truth, I wasn't all that thrilled with the accommodations. But at least it beat sleeping outside. And when the thunder started crashing and booming, I didn't have to look for someplace small to hunker down, since I was already in one.

One thing I was looking forward to was getting to swim in the pool. (Not a creek or a funky old cow pond--they have an honest-to-goodness swimming pool!) But that didn't happen because of the rain, which started soon after I arrived and didn't let up until after I got back home this morning. All in all, I guess being at camp for one night wasn't too bad. And I can probably tough it out for several days at a stretch--as long as it doesn't rain the whole time. The people who work there are nice, though it gets kinda lonesome after they go home in the evening and there's no one to talk to except other dogs. When the lady in charge brought me back up front this morning--where M and J had been "waiting all night," har har!--she told them I was a real sweetheart. But of course they already knew that.

On the drive home I asked if the lady who runs Noah's Ark is Noah, and M said no, that's generally a boy's name. Then J told me that an ark is a big boat, and that Noah was a famous guy who many years ago saved a bunch of animals from drowning in a flood by building an ark and having two of each species get on board.

"Just two?" I asked.

"Uh-huh," said M, "a male and a female of each type."

"Why not more?" I asked. "Couldn't he build a bigger boat?"

"Apparently not. Besides, with one male and one female, they were able to keep each species going."

I thought about that. "So there was a boy elephant and a girl elephant?"

"Yep."

"And a boy tarantula and a girl tarantula?"

"Musta been."

"And a boy T-Rex and a girl T-Rex?"

He gave me a look that suggested I was skating on thin ice, so I tossed him an easy one: "How 'bout a boy dog and a girl dog? Did they have that?"

"I'm sure they did," he said.

Perfect. I set the hook: "So the next time I go to camp at Noah's Ark," I asked, "can Daisy come with me?"