From: aavso@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Tom Quesinberry)
Subject: Christmas Puppy
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Lewis Research Center/NASA
Date: 23 Nov 1992 13:31 EST  

I would like to thank Karen Roop for sending this to me. Where is
Swarthmore College? :-)

				Quiz

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  Tom Quesinberry                 | E-MAIL: aavso@scivax.lerc.nasa.gov
  Research Analysis Center/CSD    | PBX:    (216) 433-5130
  Lewis Research Center/NASA      | LIFE:   I would rather see starlight
  Cleveland, Ohio 44135           |             than streetlights.
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             * Ignorance Is Curable, Stupidity Is Terminal
                     * Next Stop----------> Mars
 

From:	SMTP%"roop@cc.swarthmore.edu" 13-NOV-1992 15:57:33.98
To:	aavso@mars.lerc.nasa.gov
CC:	
Subj:	Christmas Puppy


Will Hold 'Til Christmas, by Laurie Semple

A lot of breeders will not allow a puppy to leave their kennel at
Christmas-time. It can go before, or it can go after. The following may 
be why:

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I was a bouncing, furry and adorable Christmas puppy. I came bounding out 
of a big, funny-looking box with a giant red bow on Christmas morning. I 
missed the warmth of my mother and my littermates that morning, but I 
soon forgot about them in all the fun playing with my new human owners. 
They were small and a little bit rough. Sometimes those tiny fingers 
pulled my hair a little too hard...but I forgave them and licked them in 
my happiness at having so much attention lavished on me.

But I soon grew tierd, and they wouldn't let me rest...they kept 
squeaking toys at me, and pushing me into boxes. This wasn't too bad for 
awhile...I just tried to remain cheerful through it all, even though I 
was ever so tired. Finally when the smallest one started pushing doll 
clothes onto me, I just couldn't bear it any longer. I let out a growl 
and showed her my teeth, like I did to my littermates when they got too 
rough. Well, this seemed to upset the larger humans terribly. They
grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and spanked me, then they put me in 
a large box which I realized was supposed to be my bed.

How cold it was that first night, without my canine family to snuggle up 
to. But I was so tired I managed to sleep despite the cold. In the nights
that followed as the small humans began to give me some time to myself, I 
napped enough during the day that I wasn't so tired when night came. I 
became very lonely at night, and I couldn't help crying out for my mother 
and brother and sisters. This upset the humans even more. They began 
yelling at me and smacking me with a newspaper, the same thing they did 
all the time when I did my business!

I just couldn't understand those dumb humans...every time I turned around 
they were screaming at me and throwing things at me...it just made me 
more and more frightened...and when I became frightened, I wet, and when 
I wet, they screamed at me. It seemed that there was no pleasing them. 
And the small ones, well they soon grew tired of me, which was just as 
well because they were often so cruel, dropping me on the floor, pulling
my ears and tail, and trying to make me jump off high things that were 
very scary. Then there was the teasing...they often liked to dangle tasty
tidbits in front of me, just out of my reach...how they laughed when I 
whined and jumped up and down.

After a while I began to dislike these little humans. I even began to 
shudder when they came near. I took to hiding under furniture. Sometimes 
they would grab me brutally by the foot and try to drag me out. That's
when I remembered my mother's lessons about how to defend myself. I used
my little teeth to pinch their fingers and make them let go of me. Every 
time I did this there was a lot of screaming and crying and then the 
family would ignore me for awhile...but I could sense their feelings of 
displeasure. They grumbled at me a lot, and shouted at me most of the 
time. Now when I wet they really hit me hard, then tossed me outside in 
the freezing cold. Sometimes they would forget me for hours, and there 
were times when I thought I would die out there in the cold. But it
didn't happen. They eventually remembered me.

However, I didn't always get food or water when I needed it. I grew, but 
I grew thin and scraggly. My beautiful fluffy puppy coat that my breeder
had washed and so carefully fluff-dried on that day that I left was now 
filthy and matted. I itched from the dirt and could hardly see because 
of the dirt and hair crusted over my eyes.
	
It doesn't matter now, anyway that I can't see...there isn't much to see 
here...except for the ugly bars and large empty walls, and lots of big 
ugly dogs barking at me. The smell and the noise in here are unbearable, 
and once again I find myself longing for my mother and the rest of my
canine family. But I'm sure now that I will never see them again...in 
fact I fear now for my very life...for last night my people took me to 
this terrible place...they call it the "pound".
	
To me it is a dreadful canine prison. The dogs in here are all sad, 
desperate and lonely, but none of them are friendly to me. I don't 
understand what has happened to me or what I have done to deserve this 
horrible punishment. I tried to do all that was expected of me, but I'm 
just a baby, you see, and I don't understand everything. I can't help 
crying now...I can still hear my breeder's voice on the phone, saying, 
"Yes, we'll hold him for Christmas..."
__________________________________

	Karen V. Roop
	Swarthmore College Computing Center
	roop@cc.swarthmore.edu
	215-328-8513