Riley's Adventure

Summer of 2017

Riley’s Adventure

     My mom is helping me type out this adventure, as I dictate this adventure to her.  My name is Riley McQuinn.  I am a red brindle/wild boar smooth haired dachshund.  That is a mouthful to say, so I call myself a short haired brown dachshund or doxie for short.  Young kids call me a wiener dog.  I just don’t understand why.  I do enjoy eating wieners, but I would not want someone to eat me!  I think I am getting forgetful like my mom and dad do at times, and hate to admit but I do not know how old I am.  I could be around 12, since I have such nasty looking teeth, since I do not brush my pearly yellows.  I still have the energy of a young dog.  I love, love going on walks with my mom.

      I moved into my “fur”ever home on 8/10/2011.  I consider that my birthday.  I am a rescue dog, and lived in Fort Riley, Kansas until I was left behind by my original family.  The lady that saved me from death brought me to Beaver Crossing, NE to learn new skills.  I graduated from her program in three months.  I am very smart and a fast learner.  She brought me to Omaha to meet my new sister Missy and my parents.  We recently stopped by to say hi and make a donation.  Carla said I looked really good.  When she first saw me she said I was a terrified boy.  I wandered around my old stomping grounds sniffing in all the smells.  Before we left we got to see some of her rescues who were waiting for their “fur”ever home.  They were all barking at once, and some were yelling “take me home”.  I had to explain that my parents can only handle us two, since they travel and camp.  Moms lap is only so big, and she has troubles walking two dogs at a time. 

     On to my adventure story, this happened to me last year in Colorado.  My story is based on fact, but does have bits and pieces of fiction.  I heard a story teller talk while in CO about how a story is based on some truth, and then some fiction. This gave me the idea, but now I am finally finding the time to dictate to mom. Also, I love listening to mom’s grandson Easton tell his tall tales about life.  So here is my first attempt at story telling.  I heard mom talking to Katelyn about doing the illustrations for my children’s story the other day.  Her writing assignment was to write an adventure story that was due by noon when mom was helping with homeschooling.   I am sure glad I don’t have a deadline, I need my snack and potty breaks.  I still have to do park guard duty, and bark at those going up the trail to the park behind my house.  It can be a slow job due to the cool, rainy weather, or the heat, we have had this spring and summer.  Don’t tell mom, but sometimes I run up to the back fence and just bark at no one, just so she thinks I am doing my job of keeping her safe from dogs and strangers.  My sister has to go out around 2:00 am or so, so I go out with her to guard her from creatures who roam in the dark.  I get mom all freaked out when I start barking at the back gate, so she thinks someone is in the park watching her.  I’m just on guard duty, nobody is watching HER??

       Can dogs have ADHD?  I will start that adventure story now!

     I love going on vacations with my sister Missy and parents Pat and Rene.  They took us to Pueblo, Co last fall in late Sept.  They were attending a rally for Newmar RV owners.  The fairgrounds were packed with RV’s.  We were parked next to a brand new class A that the family had just picked up for a price tag of one million dollars.  That is a fact not fiction.  My mom even got a tour of a million dollar rig, she was really not that impressed but acted like she was.  She has a hard time seeing, and it was way too shiny and glossy for her.  I keep thinking that that money could have supported some of my favorite rescues like Husker Hope in Beaver Crossing, NE. 

    I got to know the family’s dog Maximillon III.  He was a handsome standard black poodle.  He was really scared of me, a little doxie, at first.  On a yacht trip in Florida while visiting their condo, Max was bit in his privates by a small dog.  I can relate to Max somewhat.  No my parents have a small RV, home in Omaha, no yacht, home in CA, and no condo in FL like Max does.  I do have a fear of large dogs since I have been attacked and have the scars to prove it.  I get in a big dog’s face and bark a bark that tells them not to mess with me.   I tried that with Max when I first met him.  He shook with fear until I stopped.  Missy still keeps barking, and would not stop.  She is like my mom and is clueless about body language.  Mom can’t see very well, and I think Missy is losing her sight.  This summer, she barked and barked at Angie, mom’s daughter when she came to visit.  She knows Angie is the one that gives us pieces of the food she is eating, unlike our mother.  Angie loves Little King sandwiches, so one day while visiting she picked up a sandwich.  She left it on the table downstairs.  My cousins Maggie and Zoey were visiting along with Angie.  Later we all heard yelling coming from downstairs.  Mom came downstairs with a shoe to kill the huge spider that she thought Angie was yelling about.  Her sandwich was all over the floor minus the meat, cheese.  One of us dogs must be on a gluten free diet, since the bread was left behind.  We blamed the youngest Zoey, since her mom Julie is on a gluten free diet. 

  My ADHD just kicked in again, I better get back to the story.

      We were all up late sitting out under the stars, when I smelled something that smelled like steak.  Dad grills those up at times, and I love that scent.  Mom should buy an oil for me and her called Steak.  I get sick of that lavender that she wears as perfume.  My dad does not put a leash on me when he sits outside.  He trusts me to come when called.  Mom and Missy were in bed already, they go to bed way too early for me.  Even when home, but we are on vacation!  I walked under our camper to Max’s million dollar rig, dreaming that his dad was going to offer me a piece of his steak.  I was surprised to see a stranger not Max’s dad waving a huge T Bone with meat still attached in front of Max.  A white cargo van with its back door opened sat in the road.  The stranger was trying to get Max into the van.  My parents have told me and the grandkids about strangers.  Mom’s stories always involved candy not steaks, but I knew better.  I ran to Max to stop him, but I was too late.  The stranger was inside with him, Max saw me as the stranger was tying him up.  He begged me in dog language to jump in and untie him.  He was my new friend, and friends help others according to other mom stories I have heard.  I jumped in and started to untie him, when I heard the dreaded noise that I sometimes hear in my nightmares of the past.  It was the slamming of a back van door.

      This was not the van of the dog catcher in Kansas six years ago.  They had caught me and named me Frank, and thought I was a feral dog that needed to be put to sleep. What kind of name is Frank, it is a cat’s name.  This van was not a dog catches van.  Max started to whine, and was shaking uncontrollable.  Missy gets like that at times, so I knew what to do.  In a soft voice I started singing some of my favorite songs like Jesus Love Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children and others minus the Wheels on the Bus that mom sings to Landon.  I felt that song was inappropriate for the setting we were in.  Max must have known about Jesus because he calmed down and stopped whining and shaking.  He thanked me for jumping in to save him.  I then promised him that I would rescue him and get him back to his parents.

      A minor thought came into my mind that maybe, just maybe I would get a reward that I could give to my parents as a thank you for rescuing me back in 2011.  I do have a little experience in the art of rescuing, I have had to rescue mom too many times while walking in parks or campgrounds.  She will get lost, or turned around as she calls it.  I would guide her back home or to our campsite.  The first time this happened, we wandered and wandered.  I thought she was just taking us on a long walk.  Missy was really worried and starting to get tired.  She cannot take long walks and is so out of shape.  Mom loves to take long walks, but it was starting to get dark out, you humans call it dusk.  Mom has a hard time seeing in the day, but at night she is really blind and refuses to use her white cane.  Mom never remembers to carry a cell phone to call dad.  She also has a memory problem from that stroke she had five years ago.  She thinks if she helps me write my story that it will help her brain get healthy, along with healthy eating, and exercise. She even has me eating carrots and broccoli and walking and more walking in Texas during the winter.  Mom asked me to find daddy, and that it was dinner time.  I took over and got her and Missy back to the campsite.  Sure enough dad had our food in our bowls; we both were very hungry due to the traveling in the day, and the marching around the new park.

      I relayed this story to Max and my experiences of surviving on my own after my first family was deployed to a new place.  They left me behind, thinking one of the neighbors on the base would take me in.  I wandered for months as my collar grew tighter, and I was smelly and dirty. I learned to beg for food from those in the park.  I still try that at times when walking with mom.  I told Max stories that I never told Missy, mom, dad, or my cousins Maggie and Zoey.  It helped pass the time in that dark van, and Max was a very good listener.  I would stop the story telling off and on while I chewed on the tie that the stranger put on Max.  My plan was to take a run for it when the stranger stopped, and had the back door open.  I finally had him free from the tie down.  I do have very sharp teeth and can chew and tear up a new toy in less than an hour.  I can chew up a bully stick up really fast, and mom complains because of the high cost, but dad loves us and will buy them when he goes into a pet store.  I soon told Max that we better get some sleep, because we may not get a chance to sleep for awhile.  If my plan works we will have to run far and hide out, so that stranger does not find us.

     I slept for awhile and then moved up to listen to some voices from the front of the van.  Two voices were talking about Max and how much money they could make after selling him to a new owner.  They were not the smartest dog nappers, since they sure did not know much about Max and what he is worth to his parents.  They would have paid a big ransom for his return.  What I am now going to share is based on fact just like my history was.  Max is a very smart dog.  His dad taught him many tricks, and he can follow his dad’s instructions.  I watched him training with his dad at the RV site.  Max won the dog contest at the rally and received prizes.  His parents took him to a really fancy indoor restaurant to celebrate his win.   Yes, Max can go into restaurants, he even attended the dinners, and shows at the rally.  He sat at his dad’s feet during the events.  Missy and I get locked in our RV.  We sit on the dash on our blankets and dog bed and watch out the window while waiting for our parents to come home.  I was really jealous of Maximillon at first until my mom explained it to me.  He is a Service dog.  Max had special training to help his dad.  Mom never did hear the full story, but she thinks Max is there at all times like a guide dog for the blind, but Max’s dad in not blind.  He has something else.  Max saved his dad from an RV fire in the past.  When Max wakes up, I am going to have to get him to share his past.

     I dozed off dreaming about how I was a seeing eye dog for mom and could go with her into restaurants.  I would sit at her feet and wait for dad to drop me pieces of food.   Then I dreamed that this was not possible because my parents rescued me, so I could kept Missy company.  She has separation anxiety, she was really bad after Snoopy died and this left her alone.  I woke up from my dreams and found that Max was awake.  Max said he really had to go to the bathroom.  I told him to pee but not poop in the van since we did not know how long it would be.  He asked where he should do his number one.  I was not sure what he meant but told him to go way up front, since we were by the back door waiting for our chance to run.  I also took a pee up front and that was so much fun.  I sure can’t do that in dad’s RV or car.

     The van stopped and I heard the door open, I jumped out and surprised the stranger and yelled for Max to run.  I heard ----- words I cannot repeat, but did hear “where did the ---- wiener dog come from”.  We both ran and ran.  I told Max to run straight for about five minutes, and then turn right for another five minutes and then wait up.   I would catch up with him.  He could run fast due to his long legs.  I was not worried about myself and the dog nappers.  It was dark, and if they did catch me, I would not make them any money. 

     They would take one look at this over 10 year old dog, with a huge scar on my back, pieces gone from the tips of my ears, yellow teeth,  along with nails missing.  I wonder if dad gets a discount from Dawn my groomer when she does my nails.  I had a tough life before Carla found me in Kansas 6 years ago.  I start humming in my head the song called; I am a Survivor, as I run as fast as my short legs will go.  When I meet up with Max, I assured him that we are safe for now, since it is still dark.  We both rested until what humans call dawn.  I could see some lights off in the distance, so we went that direction until we came to a small creek that needed to be crossed.  We both took drinks from the cool water, but crossing this body of water was going to be hard, since I hated all body of waters, even our kitchen sink.

      I confessed up to Max about my fear of the ocean water in Texas.  One day while walking along the beach, a wave came up and pulled me in and got me wet.  Dad saved me, but now I refuse to walk too close along the beach.  We all have our phobias, mine is water and Missy’s is walking across a bridge.  She refuses to cross, so mom picks her up and carries her over.  Sure wish there was a bridge here now so I can cross.  I also am missing my sister Missy, she is probably freaking out with worry and anxiety.

    Now it is Max’s turn to take control, he starts humming some of the same songs I sang to him, as he gently pushes me across the slow moving stream.  He is so tall that he just walks across, as I dog paddle to the other side.  I remind him that we better load up with water, since we have a hike up ahead.  I am hoping that the light I saw at dawn was from a nearby town.

    The closer that we got, we could smell bacon.  Max said it was coming from what he called a diner. He said we could stop in for a bite to eat, since it was breakfast time and he would order me a couple of orders of bacon.  I had to break the news to him, that dogs were not allowed.  He was confused since he eats out with his folks.  I hear my mom complaining about the prices of eating out.  Dad eats out fast food when mom is not around.  She caught him eating pizza while she was staying in Grand Island with my cousins, and her grandchildren.  She FaceTimed him, and there he was with me and Missy on his lap as he was eating Mama’s Pizza.  Mom wants us to eat healthy and save money.  I explained to Max about the concept of money.  He said maybe we can find a card.  Did not understand what a card was, only knew about the cards that the grandchildren draw for mom and dad.  I never got bacon with those cards before.  I also reminded him that he was not wearing the special vest that he wears that allows him to travel where dogs are not allowed.

   I told him I would get him some food, since I learned many tricks while back in Kansas when I was out on my own.  That Survivor song drifted through my thoughts along with bacon.  We came into town from the back and found what I was looking for.  It was a tall trash dumpster that I could smell had some fairly recent breakfast smells.  Max was just tall enough to reach in.  Back in the day due to my short legs, I would have to tear into garbage bags left by the road, which really left a big mess.  Max reached in and pulled out a bag.  I took over since Max was so discussed about the thought of eating trash.  I fished out some food that we could share, and then left a big mess behind.  Once full, we decided to look around town.  I had another plan.  I knew if we could find a vet in town, he or she could check the microchip in Max to find his owners.  We passed a beauty shop, and Max turned to go in.  He explained he needed a nail polish and a bath and style due to the long hike and dust.  I reminded him that they cost money that he did not have.  I also told him that he was a dude that did not need nail polish, only girls did polish.  I searched for a vet in town, but could not find one.  We did find an old yellow lab that sat out in the sun sunning.  He looked friendly enough, so I approached slowly.  I made chit chat before I got down to business.  He gave me directions to the nearby vet outside of town.  We both thanked him, and went on our way.  It was a nice walk, we could see mountains in the distance and cars had Colorado plates.  Our parents would still be around waiting for us to return.  The vet was a kind older lady; she listened to our story and scanned for the chip information.  She made a call to Max’s dad, and explained where we could be found.  It would take our parents a few hours to pick us up.  She gave us some food and drink while we waited.  I asked Max if he wanted to sun himself.  I love sitting out and soaking in the warm sun.

       We went outside to sit, when we noticed a dog off down the road running and crying out for help.  We both ran to see if we could help.  She was a very cute little girl, a breed I did not recognize.  She stopped crying enough to tell us her story.  She needed our help ASAP.  Her name was Sassy and her brother was dog napped by two strangers in a white van.  She had just escaped and her brother was left behind, and his new buyer was on their way to take him to a live with a new family.  They must hurry, because she might never see him again.  We all ran as fast as we could, until we reached a rundown cabin, that reminded me of my mom’s brother Gary’s river cabin minus the river.   We could hear many dogs crying for help.  They were all out back of the cabin by a shed with a fence around it.  She cried with joy when she spotted her brother.  They looked like twins by the same mom and dad.  My sister Missy and I look somewhat related, we are the same color but that is it. 

     I came up with a plan; first all the dogs had to stop barking.  That was Max’s job.  He began to sing to them and that calmed the scared pups down.  Then we looked for the latch to the pen gate. Sassy spotted it but it was up really high. I called Max and had him knee down while I climbed up his back.  Once I had my balance, I had him stand.  He moved in closer to the gate latch, I then stood up and used my long snout to wiggle it free. Once free, Max lower down, so I could jump off safely.  Dachshunds are not suppose to do what we love- jump.  We get bad backs.  I have never had back problems, but Missy has and her brother before me did.   Snoopy could not walk for seven years due to a big dog stepping on his back when he was a few years old. He even had the surgery that did not work for him.  Missy had a shot and medication that really helped her.  I have to get after her daily reminding her to not jump.  She runs after squirrels and will follow them up a lower tree branch in our yard until she is stuck and the squirrel has moved to another tree.

      I told the pups to run and follow Max to safety to the nice lady vet.  They all ran at different rates.  Some could keep up with Max, while I stayed back with the slower pups to protect them.  That is my story and I am sticking with that.  We all made it back to the vet.  She made a call to the sheriff and explained what was going on down the road.  She then started scanning the pups and making phone calls.  They were all chipped since they were very pricey pups.  I still don’t get the pricy pup thing.  Shelters are so full of common dogs just waiting for a forever home.  My parents paid $200 for me, but at times fees will be waived to the right family due to so many pups that need homes. 

     I spotted Sassy next to her brother, over in a corner.  She gave me a cute little smile.  We went over and the next thing I knew was she was giving Max and me a big kiss and thank you for saving the day.  Max said I was blushing, after that kiss.  I did get more kisses from other cute girl pups, and high fives and hugs from the male dogs.  Some males had nail polish on, which I will never understand.  At least they were not wearing pink polish, or I would have had to talk with them.

   I told them all to look forward to my story, called Riley’s Adventure that would come out next summer on my mom’s blog called justtryingtostaybusy.blogspot.com , and then the illustrations will be done later by her grandchildren.  My mom would need to help me and she is a slow writer, so my goal would be summer 2017. 

     Max’s parents and my parents along with Missy came to great and pick us up.  We got more hugs and kisses.  The lady vet shared with my parents about how the dog nappers were now in the town’s jail. We needed to stop by and talk with the sheriff and press charges against them.  The sheriff thanked us with treats, and explained how the nappers kept records of the ones taken and had been sold.  They were tracking down the pups to return them to their original families.

   On our way back to the fairgrounds where our parents had left their RV’s, Max talked to his parents.  I could not hear what they were talking about.  Soon his dad pulled over their huge SUV in front of a diner.  His dad went in and then came out inviting all of us in for lunch on him.  Missy and I were so excited, since we have never been in a restaurant/diner.   Mom was also excited because it meant a free lunch and she loves the word “free”.  Max’s dad had offered a large tip if they would let me and my sister in to eat.  He also told the owner how we saved many pups today and we were very hungry heroes.  We ate people food, in front of mom.  Dad sneaks us people food at times, and lets us lick his bowl clean.  One time in TX, dad stopped at Dairy Queen and ordered our own ice cream cone to share, since mom did not want to share hers. 

     The parents were talking while we pups enjoyed our food.  I heard Max’s dad say the word reward.  My dream would be coming true.  My parents will get a reward for me saving their precious Maximillon III.  My dad then said to just make a donation under Riley’s name to Husker Hope Rescue in Beaver Crossing, NE.  He then explained how Carla had rescued me from death 6 years ago in Kansas. 

     When we got back to our RV’s we said our goodbyes and promised to look each other up at the next Newmar Rally in Sept of 2017 in Missouri.  I know how to find my good friend Max.  I will see him at the rally dog show and surprise him. I’ll congratulate him on winning yet another dog show.  Maybe he’ll invite me out to lunch with him and his family after his win?  I can dream, since this is my story?  Maybe I can borrow an extra service dog vest from him?  Maybe I can become an official guide dog for my mom, but I really can’t leave Missy home by herself.  So the guide dog plan won’t work.  If mom was not so cheap, and concerned about our diets, she could have dad get us some fast food.   Maybe I’ll just start small and ask for a small cone to share with Missy and of course MOM.