Being muzzled was about the worst thing that Lady could ever recall happening to her. Worse than when Jim Dear and Darling had mistreated her when Junior was born into the family and worse than when she thought that she had been betrayed by Tramp.
The whole situation had seemed innocent enough. Yes, the entire living room had just been destroyed by those pesky Siamese cats and yes, Aunt Sarah did mistakenly assume that it was her who had caused all the destruction. She had seemed greatly angered, as she stuffed Lady into her old arms and slammed the door of the house behind her. It was much to Lady's relief then, that she was only being taken to the pet store. She wasn't entirely sure why, but surely nothing bad could happen at the pet store...
Soon enough she was proven wrong. While she'd never been to a pet store before, the way Jim Dear described it, always sounded so intriguing. Curiously she looked around from the counter that she had been placed on. There were small birds in cages and other dogs and even a few cats. A parrot stared at her from the perch where it sat. Caught up in her own wonder, it was too little, too late to try and stop that horrid muzzle from being placed on her face.
There was something about barely being able to open your mouth that scared her. And the feeling of not being able to get it off felt even worse. That was why in a panic she leapt from the counter and ran from the store, leaving a mess in the wake of her escape. The chaos was enough to make Aunt Sarah fall over. Truthfully, she had never been out on the streets without Jim Dear and Darling and so the angry honking of the cars, array of busy humans and noise from the pet store behind her caused the greatest fear of all. Her fur stood on end when one of those cars almost hit her, the driver honking angrily, as she went on her way. From there, she stumbled right into a wagon, being carried by a majestic horse. It's legs came close to ending her. And then for a while there was much of the same, running into busy humans, who had no time to stop.
Even as she reached a quieter place, away from the business of the streets, her thumping heart refused to slow. Driving her to carelessly run into a pile of trash. She continued to run, failing to notice the cans which had latched onto the back of her leash. That was until she heard heavy movement and the loud sound of barking from behind her. Much to her dismay a trio of angry strays were now chasing her. She found herself cornered in a small alley with three ferocious dogs slowly coming to tear her apart. All because of a muzzle.
Of course things turned out okay in the end. Tramp was fortunately nearby and managed to fend the dogs off and that had obviously led to the rest of the day that they spent together. He'd even helped her get it off.
All that didn't make seeing Danielle, one of her own, sitting chained up to the doghouse, with a muzzle covering her face. Of all people, Jim Dear was the one to have it be put on her. She didn't know exactly what her daughter had done, but looking at her now, brought back a truly terrifying experience.
