THE BONE GAME

By Sue Peters

It is a quiet, lazy cloudy and overcast afternoon here in Peters' Labland...the boys have just finished playing The Bone Game and are now nestled down for their naps...

What's The Bone Game you ask? Well, ever since I (Mom) acquired now 10 year old Hershey at the age of two, he liked to greet me at the door with his Nylabone in his mouth when I came home. He would dance around joyously. "See my bone! See my bone!" he would snort and grunt. While he waited for me to change my clothes, he would lay and chew his bone. This was the only time he ever played with the Nylabone...when I came home from work.

The same Nylabone lasted for seven years, until a little chocolate pup named Bosco came to reside with us. Bosco's philosophy in life was, "What's mine is mine, and what's everyone else's is mine too." Hershey's Nylabone soon disappeared into nothingness under those chewy sharp little teeth. Soon Mom was shopping for a new Nylabone every three weeks! It did no good to get more than one...Bosco would take them all and hide them. Poor Hershey had no Nylabone anymore to do his bone dance with with when I came home.

Then one fine fall day, Hershey decided that enough was enough. That little puppy wasn't so little anymore, and if he was going to dish it out he was going to learn how to take it! I had walked in the door and Bosco ran for the Nylabone...Hershey growled viciously at him, bit his neck! and took that bone away! Everytime Bosco tried to get it back, Hershey growled at him--ERRRRR, ERRRRR, Bosco wasn't too sure he wanted to get bit in the neck again, so he stood and watched and waited. Hershey said, hmmm I've got this little nuisance right where I want him now, and laid down on the carpet, and started gnawing on the Nylabone ever so leisurely, as if he were savoring every particle on his tongue. This made Bosco become quite frantic! He really needed to go outside and potty in the yard, but gosh, he couldn't run outside without anything in his mouth! He began running frantically back and forth from the back door to Hershey, pausing occasionally to look at Mom and say, "Help!" Mom, being the wise Mom she is, said, "You are on your own now, little buddy!"

Suddenly, Hershey dropped the Nylabone, nonchalantly stood up and ambled to the door. Bosco, ever vigilant, ran and grabbed the bone with a look of great relief on his face, and raced for the back door. Mom was waiting to let both of her chocolate boys outside, where Bosco ran, promptly dropped the precious bone on the ground so that he could do his duty. Hershey strolled past it, saying, "I have no use for the bone now."

Upon command from Mom, Bosco brought the bone back in with him when they went back into the house and deposited it on the kitchen floor. Hershey continued to ignore the bone the rest of the night, letting Bosco chew on it and flip it around to his heart's content...until...

The next day Mom came home from work. Bosco was in his crate as usual. Hershey, a mature individual who no longer needs crates, was waiting just inside the door. The bone was in his mouth and he was once again doing his Bone Dance! Mom let a grateful Bosco out of his crate, and he ran to Hershey to take back the bone. One very soft growl came from Hershey's throat...errr. Bosco backed up and looked at Mom, his head cocked to one side. Mom told him he was on his own from now on! Hershey repeated the whole routine from the day before.

As long as there's a Nylabone handy in the Peters' house, The Bone Game continues each time Mom leaves the house and returns home. Hershey never chews a Nylabone at any other time...only when it is time for The Bone Game.

Sue & Hershey & Bosco

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