Dasa Subs for Mom

This is Dasa Pick-Sutton. I live with my mom, dad, and brother Ivan in a cozy house with a back yard that has lots of trees and bushes to sniff and pee on. It also has smaller plants that occasionally need to be dug up, although I’m the only one who thinks so. I’m writing this blog entry for my mom because she’s sick. She sleeps a lot, coughs a lot, drinks juice, and coughs and sleeps some more.

I’m very helpful when Mom is sick. She says sleeping snuggled next to me is the best medicine ever, so I have to be ready to sleep at a moment’s notice. I’m sort of on call for naptime.

My brother Ivan and I discussed this and decided I get to write the blog because even though he’s bigger, I’m a year older. Sometimes Ivan disagrees with me, but I just make a growly noise and lift one side of my lip a little and he sees my point more clearly.


Mom says I’m well qualified to write the blog because I have good literary taste. Ivan destroys all kinds of paper, but I’m much more selective. I shred only the good magazines into tiny pieces, no junk mail for me. At first Mom didn’t realize I was shredding paper, but she caught me in the act one day. She tried to sound disapproving, she kept laughing and kissing me, so I don’t think she was mad.

There is one trick I can’t get Mom to do. It seems simple enough to me, but she never gets it right. When she’s eating lunch, I scratch at the back door. She’s supposed to go to the door and leave her plate on the table for me to grab, but she always puts her plate on the counter before she comes to see what I want. Every time. She can’t help being a slow learner, so I’ll be patient and keep trying.

Dad is easier to teach. I get up early to help, umm, watch him eat his breakfast. When Mom comes downstairs and sees my front feet on Dad’s knee, she says, “What are you doing?” Dad says, “Nothing. Nothing at all,” and looks very innocent. I wag my tail and look very innocent too. I’m pretty sure she believes us because she just says “hmm.” Dad winks at me and I wag my tail some more. We aren’t talking because it’s a secret between Daddy and me.