I awakened from my hourly nap from the different scents coming from the kitchen. It was way past mealtime. "What was it today?" I thought to myself. "Noodles, Potatoes, or could it be.. HAM? Oh, how I love ham." My body parts flew with happiness as I made my way towards the smells. I greeted the woman in the kitchen and gave her a look that never failed to get me what I wanted. She threw me a slab of meat, which seemed to be done in a somewhat secretive way, and within a few seconds it was gone. I laid down in the kitchen hoping to get some more. After long intervals of waiting and begging, I gave up. I was upset and bored.

The man walked in through the front of the house with his toolbox in his hand. The woman cheerfully greeted him at the door way only for him to ignore her completely and go straight to his bedroom. She marched into the room after him, slamming the door behind her. Even though the door was closed I could still hear everything as if I were in the same room. It would be hard not to hear the arguing. Suddenly I heard a creak come from the back of the house. The door was open! I jogged towards it with just enough time for me to get out. "Oh, all the fresh scents!" The first thing I noticed was a new improvement within the back yard. There was now a fence streaming around the perimeter of one of the many trees in the yard. I made my way to the one tree, smelling everything in my path. I even took a bite from the grass at one point. Down on the bottom of the tree, were these odd, fluffy animals. "Is this where ham comes from?" I thought to myself. "I want more ham." I threw my arm under the fence, hoping to catch one of the creatures. They all ran into the wooden house that was recently built for them, leaving me ham-less and hungry.

The next few days, I spent the majority of my time trying to get more ham. If I wasn't sleeping, I was outside of the house trying to catch one of the animals. I became really good at my speed and my slyness. Eventually, one day, I had a success. I caught one of the animals, dragged it from under the detached fence and tore it apart bit by bit. I began digging my teeth into the fuzzy monster as it struggled more and more to stay alive. While I was eating it, I realized it didn't taste like ham but I loved it anyways. I did not stop eating until the majority of it was gone. The head was useless, though. I left it on the lawn for something else to eat. I went back to the fenced area and tried for another.

Just when I was about to catch one, I heard my owner scream a few meters away. She was standing just a few feet from the scraps of my meal. Her countenance was a mixture of terror and disgust, and I knew the reason she felt that way was because of me. A second did not pass before I ran over to her and licked her hand, although the reaction she had towards my lick made her face transform into a huge disgust. As she was running away, she was horrified, and I saw her wipe off the part of her hand where I had licked her. I looked down at the scraps of my meal, realizing that the poor creature's eyes were still open, and wider than ever on the ground. The once cute animal, was now just a head laying on the lawn, and it was because of me. But that didn't stop me from getting the rest.

Within the next week, all of the rabbits were gone, and my owner's got more and more distant from me. One day, I saw the woman scooping up all the decapitated heads with a shovel and placed them in a trash bag. I felt responsible for all of the mess, and if I could one day speak to them and say I was sorry, I would.

Arguments throughout my house had progressively gotten worse that month. I heard my owner and the woman fighting in the living room. As they were fighting, they were furiously pointing at me. I hated seeing them like that; I hated seeing them fight because of me. I scattered towards them with an urge to fix the mess I made, I stood at the feet of my owner, and I told her I was sorry. Although, she didn't react the way that I had hoped for. She just gave me a confused look and then continued doing what she was doing before I made the noise.

I did say I was sorry, but it didn't seem to fix anything. So instead, I went towards the back of the house and waited impatiently again for the door to open. It took a while before someone came back inside the house, but when they did, I was just about ready to burst. I got as far away from the yelling as I could. Coming from the distance, the dreamy black lab that lived across the street came running towards me, almost flawlessly. I felt butterflies in my stomach. The dog could sense I was upset, I would assume, because the first thing he did was lick me on my face. I suddenly felt an urge of excitement and it seemed all my problems had gone away. I was finally away from all the fighting, and this was the first time I actually felt safe without my owners beside me.

This dog and I began doing a lot of things together. We played tag, tug-of-war, and we even had scavenger hunts for the little critters we found scattering on our land. I didn't know my new friend's name until my neighbors called him home one day. His name was Rudy. The more I hung out with Rudy, the more I began to miss my humans and their comfort. Even though I had great times with Rudy, I needed to start having great times with my owners again. I missed being happy at home because that's where I was happiest.


One day, my owner and I went to sit down together and I curled up right beside her while we were watching TV. She was alone and far away from anyone that would cause an argument. The house was silent and no body was fighting. I saw her smiling at me from above. Side by side, we were both happier than we had been for a long time.