Tim was very good to the puppies. Naturally, he didn’t trouble himself about them quite like a mother, but he was never snappy or disagreeable. Even when they played all over him and nibbled his ears he never growled like some father dogs might have done.
One day we wanted to take a picture of the puppies sitting in a row, little thinking the difficult job it was going to be. Of course, Tim kept sitting just in front of the camera, so before we began he had to be taken indoors.
The Puppies.
At first the puppies were all good except the two girls, Timette and Ann. They wouldn’t stay where they were put, but kept waddling away as if they had some very important business of their own. As soon as Ann was caught and put back, Timette would wander off, and when she was caught, Ann was off again and so it went on. It was lucky there were two of us, but we were both kept busy. Then the other puppies didn’t see why they shouldn’t have some fun and they began wandering away, too. There was only one thing to be done with the two naughty pups who had set such a bad example and that was to give them a whipping. Of course, not a real one, for they were such babies they couldn’t understand, but just a few mild pats to keep them still. You would have laughed to see their puzzled faces, for they were not sure what the pats meant and rather thought it was some new game. After this Ann was placed in the middle of the group, where she promptly went to sleep, and Timette was put at the end of the row, where she sat blinking as sleepily as you do when it is long past your bedtime.
Timette and Ann had never been so tired in their short lives. First of all, the running away and always being brought back, then being made to sit in one place, and after that the new game of pats had been too much for the babies, and when it was over they slept and slept as if they never meant to wake up again.
I wonder what they said to each other about it afterwards. I daresay the three other puppies laughed at them and probably made believe they had understood all along that they were expected to sit still. When old Tim came out again they told him all about it. “We tried hard to get away,” said Timette, and Ann joined in, “We tried and tried over and over again, but each time we were brought back.” Then the other puppies explained about the pats. “I see,” said Tim, “now I understand you have had your first whipping for disobedience; take care it is the last.”
They slept and slept.