Life of a Dog

The room felt airy as I woke up in my bed with my duvet wrapped aroundme. The atmosphere seemed damp and dull; perhaps my Central heating was on the blink again.I stretched and rose from the warm comfort of my bed and slide of my fluffy purple slippers and slowly, shivering walked over to my wardrobe and opened the creaking door and put on my cold but yet soft dressing gown.

   Radiator was rumbling and as I touched it my hand went numb with the coldness, it wasn't working again. As I turned away from the radiator and headed towards the door to check my thermostat, I tripped up on a book that was on the floor and hit my head on the side of my desk. I began to tremble and shake and I had a numb feeling and images of all kinds of dogs in all shapes and sizes, eating, sleeping, and barking appeared in my head.

   I was scared infact terrified, Why did I have visions of dogs? Why was I imagining myself as a dog? After what seemed like ages, I tried to pick myself up off the carpet, I couldn't. I suddenly realised that I wasn't human anymore. I had four legs, a soft fur coat and I couldn't talk, all I could do was yap and bark. I was frightened. I nervously took a step and my paws pounded to the floor. Why was I a dog? How was I going to cope? What would my family think? I felt odd but I knew that underneath this fur coat and dumb looking face I was still the same person I had been before I turned into a dog. I shook my coat and cleaned it. It was quite an exciting but yet terrifying experience.

   My sense of smell had grown stronger. I could smell the stench of sweaty socks. I plodded out of my cold bedroom and down the stairs. My paws were cold because the carpet was damp. As I entered the bathroom I saw my reflection in the mirror, it horrified me.

   I was a little black dog with long, curly haired ears, short stocky legs, a plump elly, deep dark eyes that sparkled in the sunlight and a wet black nose. I was quite pleased with the way I looked, so off I trotted round the house. My tongue was hanging out of my mouth and I was breathing heavily because I was in need of a drink. It was scary because how was I going to adapt to life as a dog. I didn’t know how I was going to get a drink or food. The house smelt of curry and garlic from my tea the night before and cigarette smoke lingered in the air.

   Flowers in the hall made me sneeze. I jumped up onto the settee and looked outside, how I longed for a drink and something to eat. I could feel a breeze coming from the conservatory, the draft was sending chills down my back and my little black hairs were standing on edge. As I wandered into the conservatory I realised the lower window was open at a jar, so I stood back and remembered what I'd seen other dogs do and decided to try leaping, but as I ran and leaped I crashed into the wall. My nose hit the wall and my back legs collapsed beneath me. I lifted my belly and legs off the floor and gave it another go, this time succeeding. I landed on a wet, paved path that wasn't soft on my sensitive paws. I wasn't use to my strong sense of smell and my sensitive fur coat. Dozens of smells hit me. I could smell different types of food, cats, other dogs, birds and human smells. I drank murky water from the path.

   It was cold and tasted of chlorine. Leaves rustled underneath my feet. I wanted to explore because I didn’t know how long I was going to stay as a dog. Firstly though I needed some food. I remembered my little sister putting some nuts and stale bread out for the birds about two or three days ago. I hooked onto the scent that led me to the greenhouse and here it was stale but now soggy bread and a few crumpled nuts.

   I bolted that down and ran off to the front gate, which was open. Out I wandered onto the pavement. I could hear lots of noises, children screaming, the traffic zooming by and the wind howling round my body. I could smell other dogs and the horrible shabby cat that lived next door; it had one bad eye that use to stare and weep. I wandered off in the direction of the park, passing lots of children whose feet pounded past my body. Some stopped to pat me, roughly grabbing at my coat and others pointed. Was I really that fascinating?

   I must have looked like a rough, homeless dog that smelt of nasty uncleanliness smells but I didn’t care I just wanted to explore. I wandered out in front of traffic which swerved to dodge me and people were cursing at me but I acted all innocently after all to them I was some dumb dog that didn’t understand them. As I got closer to the park I could hear other dogs barking and their owners shouting their names. I had no one to look out for me, no ball to play with, no treats to have when I had obeyed them and no one to love me. So I wandered about the park aimlessly sniffing at the other ogs around me, rubbing at their owners legs in the hope that they’d give me some food or affection.

   After chasing other dogs balls and getting shouted at off their owners I headed for the duck pond. As I drew nearer I could hear all the ducks quacking and I could smell the fishy scent. I got so excited I jumped into the duck pond and tried to catch the ducks but they started flapping their wings and quacking loudly and swam off faster than I could catch them. I felt soggy and wet and on my coat a horrible ponging smell leached. I got out of the pond and shook my coat. I was trembling now with coldness. Mud stuck to my paws, I could feel leaves sticking to my wet smelling coat and I probably looked like a disowned badly behaved dog, well infact I was one, so I decided to head home. I picked up my home scent half way back up the road and followed it to my front door and suddenly there was a shout and a bang and I turned over and realised I had just been dreaming and my little sister had just woke me up. I tried to settle back down in my bed and go back to my dream but it was no use, it had gone. It hadn’t been real, it was a dream and not a reality but I was keeping that experience to myself!