My Denmate's Rain

Sunrise 1...

She's home!

She's finely home!

I've been sitting by the moving wall for what feels like sunrises now! But I can't believe she's actually come back to the den!

When she bends down, I quickly go up to lick her muzzle happily. She seems a bit tired, and I can taste those tasty drops of water that fall from her eyes sometimes. I hope she’s okay? She only has water drops rain from her eyes when she’s sad, and I don’t want her sad.

When she moves to sit on the large bed in front of the moving picture box, I can hear the way she sniffs. I wonder what she’s trying to smell.

Sunrise 5…

My denmate has been in the den for a long time.

It makes me wonder why she hasn’t gone outside yet.

She only lets me out, and she hardly goes out to hunt. That can’t be fun.

I sit here, at the end of the bed, staring at my denmate.

She keeps letting those little drops of water fall from her eyes, and I worry that if she does that too much, she might need more water. If she needs more water, then I could get her some!

I quickly leap off the bed to get her some water!

Sunrise 11…

Water has not been very helpful.

I think I angered my denmate.

She growled at me for tipping over the large water bowl she keeps in the cold box for what feels like the 4th time. I was only trying to help her.

She spent a long time playing with me though, and I was glad that she got the chance. We did her favorite things so I could make it up to her for the large water bowl. We sat on the large bed and watched the moving pictures, I chased a ball she’d throw at me to make her happy, and I even sat down when she’d bark a certain way (only because she’d give me a treat though).

But even that, didn’t seem to stop the drops of water that would rain from her eyes.

I licked them often.

But it was no longer because they tasted good.

I was more worried about my denmate needing that water to live. I didn’t want my denmate to be hurt. I was taught to lick wounds to heal faster.

Sunrise 13…

My denmate has finally gone out!

It saddened me when she left, but as soon as she came back to the den, I was infinitely more happy! It was worth it too, since she seemed much happier than when she left. She smiles and barks happily to me, and I yip back just as happily.

I’m very glad to see that she’s doing much better!

There were no water drops today, and we spent a good amount of the day having fun with my toys and just sleeping around on her main bed. Today couldn’t get any better.

Sunrise 14…

My denmate is very sad.

I can tell because the water drops fall from her eyes quicker than I can lick them.

It hurts when she pushes my muzzle away from hers, and I don’t understand when she angrily growls at me. I was just trying to lick her wounds.

She gets up on her hind legs, and barks loudly and angrily, and I whimper as I back away.

I don’t know what I did wrong.

She starts to rain water even harder, and makes little whimpers.

I wonder why? We have been playing nicely.

I haven’t seen her mate in a while. Maybe that’s why she’s sad? Maybe she misses him. Maybe she misses her kin, who would always come to our den and bring my friend, Talbot, to our den. Even though Talbot takes my toys, I do miss him.

She is very sad now.

Sunrise 21…

She doesn’t get out of bed much now.

I do my best to yip, and help her out. But she doesn’t rouse, and pushes me away with defeated whimpers. It smells like her eye rain every time I sniff, and I whimper at the thought that she’s rained so many drops from her eyes.

She’s been like this since she got off her strange sound box.

She had been yipping quietly to what I remember as her mate (he has a very low yip), and she had been raining drops from her eyes. She sniffed a lot, but when I sniffed I couldn’t smell anything. When I’d hear a different kind of yip on the box, my denmate would start to angrily bark at it.

I’d flatten my ears at the different yips. If my denmate doesn’t like them, neither do I.

My ears… She hasn’t been scratching my ears lately.

She hasn’t scratched them, pet me, or even barked funny barks at me to do stuff.

She has been very sad.

I wonder if it’s because she hasn’t seen her packmates? Or maybe just her mate? Or maybe her kin?

Either way, she has been very tired I guess. All she does is stay in her main bed.

I miss her a lot, and I wish she’d do more than just let me outside to make dirt.

Sunrise 25…

I no longer am glad that my denmate is here.

I love her very much, and would protect her with all the fur on my hide.

But I do not want her to be here anymore.

She is very unhappy here, and the den is no longer a den for her.

It has turned into a metal box, like the ones that she sometimes puts me in when she leaves.

I hate those boxes, and I can only guess that she hates them too.

I do not want her to be stuck in a metal box, even if it is with me. She deserves to go outside through those moving walls, and run around with her other packmates. She deserves to go and curl around her mate, like I do with my stuffed furry thing. She deserves to eat all the kibble she wants, and not have to save it because she’s afraid that other dogs have already taken the best kibbles. She deserves to see her kin, and play strange games of barking and moving paper squares around.

I want her to be happy.

She is not happy here.

I do not urge her to play.

I simply lie down, and curl beside her.

For the first time in a long time, she quietly yips her sadness to me. She sniffs a bit, and she lets the rain fall from her eyes.

I resist licking them because I think they are her way of healing.

I will be here for her.

I will help her.