His Momma Said

That Pride Thing

He loved going so fast that everything went by in a blur.

It was such a blast to feel the wind race through his fur.

Speeding along was a thrill, and always to win with never a spill produced such a big grin!

He was living the life of dreams, and the puppyish screams of delight from the young bitches was better than marrow-bone riches.

He was a hero in his own time and all the puppers he’d left behind envied his rapid sporting-climb and his success-refined mind.

He’d strut to the slopes, his ears erect knowing he’d the right to cheers expect. His fans would press upon him his favourite noggin as he leapt nimbly aboard his racing toboggan.

But then, one day, disaster struck and his luck ran out. So carried away was he by his devout fans cheering, that he twirled his single gold earring and leapt, in best swashbuckling fashion, aboard his passion, his sled, and in his zeal to get ahead of the field, forgot his muzzle shield.

He’d only ever worn it because his mother insisted. He’d always known she was a killjoy. She literally only existed to destroy his fun, treat him like a schoolboy. But now he was out from under her twisted thumb. So there, Mum!

So, even knowing that wearing no muzzle defender, along with a sled fender bender, could engender a catastrophic interval most painful — (also, he was a bit vainful, if truth be told), and fed up with those clichés of old his mother always used to say, like: ‘pride comes before a fall, son’. He would groan and howl, ‘CLICHÉ!’ and he’d go on his dogly way.

He thought of this the day he forgot his muzzle guard and wished he had not ignored her before he was scarred for life, and gossip was rife.

There’s nothing colder than the sight of one’s fans all agogo to see their handsome hero-doggo with his tongue frozen hard to his shoulder.

He felt so small on his crawl out of the limelight. Above all, he knew the inevitable outcome — he’d have to make up to his old mum. His fate was sealed — he could never again disdain his shield once his tongue had been peeled from his shoulder, and healed.