Chapter 2: Show Time!
On a warm, spring morning, the mayor of Primp Town came to the dog kennel.
"Welcome!" said Carbuncle with a charming smile. "How can I help you?"
"We're having a dog show soon. The dog show will be about different breeds of dogs. The show will be featuring puppies to attract audiences, yet we still need to get a Golden Retriever pup. Do you have any Goldie pups here?" asked the mayor.
"Of course I have," said Carbuncle. Then he walked to Witch's cage. "There she is!" Witch wiggled her tail as if she's happy to see the mayor.
"A cute-looking one, eh? He'll be perfect, but please take her to the vet first. She'll need a doctor's note before a pup could enter a dog show," reminded the mayor.
"I will." answered Carbuncle.
'And she will have to participate without munching on a toy but you can hold some treats in your hand to have her obey," added the mayor. Then he left.
Oh no. Witch cannot survive without her rope knot toy…thought Carbuncle anxiously. He turned to Witch, who was playing with her rope knot toy.
But since she's a Golden Retriever, a gentle breed, I think she'll be fine…thought Carbuncle.
But it was not as easy as Carbuncle thought. Despite being a Golden retriever, Witch was quick to defend when Carbuncle tried to take away her precious toy. She would either bark at Carbuncle, or ran away with the rope knot in her mouth.
After two days, Carbuncle managed to take away Witch's rope knot without any injuries. However, with her toy gone, Witch started to whine. She could whine for two hours without stopping. The whole thing drove Carbuncle crazy.
"Maybe a nice bath would calm you down," said Carbuncle as he picked up a whining Witch and went straight into the bathroom.
A bath did the trick. Witch stopped whining, and began to light up a smile, with her tongue sticked out. She seemed to enjoy her bubble bath.
"There you go, girl. A nice bubble bath is relaxing, right?" smiled Carbuncle as he applied some pineapple-scented shampoo on Witch's golden fur.
But it was not long before Witch was whining again. Looks like a Golden Retriever isn't that patient and obedient as it should be.
"Oh! Come on Witch! You can't enter a dog show with your toy!" Carbuncle started to get impatient with his fussy puppy. He decided to ignore her and began cooking his dinner.
When he started to eat his curry hamburger steak, Witch suddenly got quiet. She seemed to smell something delicious.
"At least you shut up. Now what did you want?" asked Carbuncle, leaving his dinner table.
Witch walked to a bag of dried pineapple, and sniffed the bag.
"You want some dried pineapple, right?" smiled Carbuncle. Suddenly, Carbuncle had an idea. Maybe some dried pineapple can stop Witch from whining without her toy, since the mayor said that he could hold some treats in his hands to have Witch obey.
The next day, Carbuncle tried to train Witch to walk with him with some dried pineapple in his hands. He let Witch smell them to have her recognize the scent so she won't whine when she's walking.
The result turned out great. Witch obediently walked with Carbuncle when some dried pineapple is in Carbuncle's hands. Looks like she survived without her rope knot toy. When the training had finished, Carbuncle rewarded Witch with the dried pineapple.
The mission of having Witch getting used to no toys was complete. The next thing she needed to do was to get a doctor's note. Carbuncle immediately took Witch to the vet.
There were many dogs, cats, puppies and kittens waiting at the clinic. Looks like Witch would have to wait for several hours for her turn to check her body. Luckily, Carbuncle brought some dried pineapple to have her wait patiently.
After almost two hours, it was Witch's turn. First, the vet checked her ears, then her mouth, then her eyes. Finally, it's time for injection. Although she has experienced that before, Witch whined and stepped backwards as she saw the syringe. She then barked and jumped out of the check-up bed, and ran towards the entrance of the clinic.
"Witch! Come back! What a rebellious Golden Retriever you are!" cried Carbuncle as he chased Witch.
Since the entrance of the clinic was shut, Witch realized that she had no way out. She turned to Carbuncle, who was puffing and sweating, with watery eyes.
"Come on, Witch. It's just a little shoot. After this you can go home and play whatever you want," said Carbuncle softly.
Witch couldn't really bear the pain of an injection, but she knew she could never go home without injection, so she reluctantly jumped into Carbuncle's arms.
"Good girl," smiled Carbuncle as he patted Witch as to comfort her.
Carbuncle placed Witch back on the check-up bed. Witch shivered as she saw the syringe.
"Calm down, girl. It may be painful, but it won't last long," said the vet softly.
Witch obediently stood still on the check-up table. The vet then injected the syringe. Fortunately, Witch did not even whine a bit when the syringe was injected into her body.
"You're a brave little girl!" smiled the vet. He gave the doctor's note to Carbuncle after several minutes. Then Carbuncle left the clinic with Witch.
The second mission if finished. There were four days til the dog show. Carbuncle decided to train Witch in the rest of the days, which Witch seemed to be happy to follow.
During the training, Witch obediently followed Carbuncle's orders. Looks like she had come back into a "normal" Golden Retriever. This indicated that dried pineapple was one of Witch's favorite things too.
Finally, the day of the dog show had come. Since the dog show started in the afternoon, Carbuncle had a plenty of time to train and deck Witch.
After giving Witch a nice bath, Carbuncle decked Witch with a small yellow bow on her left ear, and a blue color with gold license.
"There you go. You look gorgeous, aren't you?" smiled Carbuncle. Witch barked and wiggled her tail as she was agreeing with Carbuncle.
The dog show took place at the park. There were dozens of participants with their puppies, waiting for their attendance to be taken.
Witch was assigned to the 22nd to do the catwalk with Carbuncle. Because that was the first time seeing a bunch of people watching her, Witch was very nervous, and shivered.
"It'll be fine, girl. Just do what we did in these days," said Carbuncle.
Finally it's Witch's turn. However, Witch was missing!
"Oh no! Witch, where are you?" cried Carbuncle anxiously. He couldn't catwalk without Witch. He would only embarrass himself!
With some dried pineapple in his hand, he set out to find Witch. Lucky for him, it was break time and he had 10 minutes to find Witch.
After a few minutes, Carbuncle found Witch rushing back towards him. She brought a Coton de Tulear pup with her.
"Oh my goodness! You're here, Klondike!" said an old lady. The reason Witch was missing was because she discovered the Coton de Tulear pup was lost. She saw the pup with his owner, the old lady before, thus recognize her. She decided to set out and took the Coton de Tulear back to his owner.
"Thank so much, little girl," said the old lady, patting Witch. Then she turned to Carbuncle, who was sweating and nervous.
"Your must be grateful to have a Golden Retriever pup like her. She just helped me find my Klondike!"
"Really? You're a smartie, Witch!" smiled Carbuncle. "Break-time is over. Let's get moving and do our best," he added. Witch gave a dog smile, with her tongue sticked out.
It's time for Witch to do the catwalk. With some dried pineapple in Carbuncle's hands, Witch done the catwalk perfectly. The audience were impressed.
After the show, the mayor came to the participants.
"Well done, everyone. To reward all your efforts, each participants will receive $80 price money," smiled the mayor.
Then the mayor walked to Carbuncle. "Thank you for participating," he whispered.
Carbuncle smiled, and turned to Witch. 'Don't worry, Witch, you'll have your rope knot toy once you get home,"
Witch, of course, was very happy. She jumped onto Carbuncle and gave him some face-licking.