First thing

I used to be a puppy.

When you are a puppy, everything is new and confusing, but exciting at the same time. When I first started taking my now-and-forever Mom and Dad on walks, we used to find all kinds of things that I never saw before! When you are a puppy it seems that everything (EVERYTHING!!) moves! And you don't know which ones you're supposed to chase yet, so you try to chase all of them - because how else would you find out?

And on a walk, there are lots of things on the ground that move but are not food or might not even be alive. There are leaves that fly onto the ground and then start running all together at the same time! And there are hard things that fall from trees that you can chew - but you spit them out because they make your tongue taste like it just turned inside out. And there are hard stones that you thought weren't going to move, but then your Mom or Dad kicked them and all the sudden they are running away from you! So you catch them in your mouth, but you can't chew them at all, so out they go, too. And there are also sticks that don't move until you get right up to them and your Mom or Dad steps on them and then they jump and make a snap sound at you, like you're supposed to do something right away - but you don't know what it is!

And there are cars that are SO BIG and can move so fast, but they can also stand so still. And when you're a puppy you don't know how to tell one from the other. So sometimes you can't tell if the car is moving or if you just started walking backwards. And that makes you try to run forward all the sudden because you are trying to catch up with yourself.

And there can be so many other people and doggies, and you want to play with every single one of them THE MOST!!! And they all want to play with you the most! And they let you spin around in front of them, and jump up on them, and pee in front of them SO MUCH!!!

Unless they are an old doggie. If they are an old doggie, then they will growl at you. And they will look over top of you and walk away. And if you chase them, then they will turn and nip at you. So the first thing a puppy learns is that an old doggie is a thing that moves, but you're not supposed to chase it.