"When Trouble Finds You..."

One spring day, as Bo scurried about looking for something interesting, he came across a puppy tail poking from under a thorny bush. “What have I here?” Bo asked, sniffing the ground around the bush to investigate. Receiving only a faint thump of the tail and a light whimper in reply, Bo moved the bushes with his nose to discover the fair pup Morgan, his niece, hiding under the bush. 

“What’s this?” Bo repeated. “Morgan, is that you? Whimpering under the bush like a little lost dog? What is the matter, girl?”

Morgan collapsed into uncontrollable whimpers, so Uncle Bo dragged her out from the bush and began licking her face and ears. “There, there,” he said. “Tell me what’s wrong?”

Between sobs, Morgan managed to spit out the problem. “I carried Mum's shoe in my mouth, and got in trouble for it,” she said dejectedly. She hung her head, as Uncle Bo gave her another lick and silently listened as Morgan told her story.


“Getting in trouble is no big deal,” barked out Nessie, as the other young pup arrived at the bush, curious about the commotion. 

”Yes it is,” argued Morgan. “I don't like how it feels.”

"Well,” answered Nessie, “I get in trouble all the time, and it doesn’t hurt a bit!” 

"I don't,” replied Morgan. “Besides,you should have seen the look on Mum's face. I don't think she trusts me anymore and I think I hurt her feelings...”

"Getting in trouble hurts Mum's feelings?” asked Nessie. She sounded puzzled.

"Well, Nessie,” Bo explained gently, “everyone makes a mistake once in awhile and gets in trouble. But when you do something that you say you won't do, people lose confidence in you and you can hurt their feelings.”

"Wow!" Nessie exclaimed, “I never thought of that.” She cocked her ears up and back, continuing to think about this idea of confidence and trust.

"So, Uncle Bo, what do I do to make it up to Mum?”
blurted Morgan. “I feel terrible.”

"Ah, Morgan,” Bo offered gently, “the best thing to do when you make a mistake is to try to fix it if you can, apologize and try really hard not to do it again.” 

Morgan sat in thought with her nose between her paws. 

”But you know Morgan, even your Uncle Bo has made mistakes.
Did I ever tell you about what I did to Mum's shoes?”


“No, Uncle Bo. I haven’t heard that one,” said Morgan.
“Please tell us, Uncle Bo,” chimed Nessie.

“Well, I was younger then… let’s see if I can remember. It happened something like this…

“It was a cold winter day, not a nice warm one like today. I was in the house alone. I didn’t go out with the other dogs when Mum left for work, and I must admit, now I was a bit bored. So, I started searching for things that smelled like Mum. She hadn’t left anything out that looked like fun. I was so bored! I know I should have gone out with the other dogs that morning, but I thought I was too busy counting leaves in the dog run outside the dog door to be bothered. Well, pretty soon I had the bright idea of opening her closet door with my nose. What do you know! It worked. Pretty soon, I had all her chews within reach. Well, I know they are called shoes now, but then I was still a pup, and I called them chews. I was so astonished, I ran from the room and stayed away from them for hours. But without the other dogs, I was SO bored. So I came back to the closet, and picked the heaviest chew and carried it out to the dog pen so I could play with it. I figured I would be careful and put Mum’s chews back before she noticed. After awhile, I lost interest in this game. The thought of the other chews in the closet kept calling me. So I went back, and found another one to play with in the dog pen. Pretty soon, I had all her chews out in the dog pen! I lined them all up in a circle. I moved them around. I think I arranged them quite nicely.

“Suddenly, I heard Mum’s truck in the driveway. Oh, I was so glad she was home. I raced to see her, and completely forgot about the chews. Mum played and played with me out in the side yard, but she couldn’t see where I had lined up all her chews out of sight behind the doghouse. That night, it rained. All the forgotten chews stayed in the dog pen all night in the rain and mud. Mum found them the next morning. She was devastated. All her best work shoes, chewed, soggy and ruined. I could tell she was really upset with me because she had water running from her face.” Bo fell silent, thinking about what had happened.

“What did you do, Uncle Bo?” Morgan asked.

“I did the only thing I could do,” said Bo. “I did the only thing you can do too, Morgan…”

“Uncle Bo, “ pleaded Morgan, “tell me!” 

“Morgan, Nessie…” said Bo, sitting in front of them looking first at one girl and then the other. “This is an important life lesson. When you mess up, you have to try to make it right and you have to apologize.” 

“How did you try to make it right, Uncle Bo?” Nessie asked. “Did you bring the chews back?” 

“Good question, Nessie,” answered Bo. “Some things you can’t make right. Yes, I tried to bring the chews back in, but Mum just thought I was trying to chew them again. So instead, I made it right by forever keeping all the other dogs away from her chews. I never opened her closet door again, and I haven’t chewed a chew in a whole year.”


“Did that work, Uncle Bo?” asked Morgan and Nessie together.

“It’s working,” Bo said. “Mum still doesn’t completely trust me. Sothe first thing you need to do is apologize. Go to your Mum, put your head in her lap and look up into her eyes. Then give a tiny little whimper and lick her hand. If you can, when she looks into your eyes, lick her cheek gently too.”


“Is that all I have to do?” Morgan asked.

Bo added, “It helps if you look serious and a bit sad. Don’t run around and bark for a while. Look like you are taking this seriously. She’ll know you are sorry.”

“Great!” Morgan yipped. “I’ll go try it right away.”

Morgan runs over to her Mum while Bo and Nessie watch silently.
They watch Morgan following the steps to apologize. Her mum gives her a hug and the two cuddle for a while, then Morgan comes running back, overjoyed and wagging her big fluffy tail.

“It worked, Uncle Bo!” Morgan barked excitedly. “It worked! She forgave me!”


“Hey,” said Nessie. “Those hugs looked good. I want some too. This apologizing business is a good thing. See you later Uncle Bo! I’m off to steal Mum’s chews so I can apologize too!”

“But Nessie…” Bo called after her. Too late. Nessie was intent on her plan and out of earshot. 

“Well, Morgan,” Bo said, stretching out for a nap. “I don’t think Nessie really understood that lesson. I’m glad you did.”

“Me too, uncle Bo,” answered Morgan. “I won’t ever hurt anything of Mum’s again. I want her to trust me. I just wish things weren’t so much fun to play with and chew up!”

“I know, Morgan.” Bo smiled. “There’smore than one way to get attention. When we do something we know we aren’t supposed to do, we get attention in a way that makes people mad. When we do something our Mums like, we get attention in a way that makes our people happy. What kind of attention do you want?” 

But Bo didn’t get an answer. Morgan was fast asleep, dreaming of something good to do for her Mum, and Nessie was off stealing a chew.