Bedtime Stories for Dogs

By Amy Neftzger

Bedtime Stories for Dogs is a book of short stories and fables designed specifically for dog lovers. The topics range from mythology to magic and horror stories (for dogs) combined with a little sprinkling of canine poetry. The book also includes a creative retelling of the Gingerbread Man from a dog’s perspective. You share so much with your dog, why not read together, also?

• Language: English
• Publisher: FOG INK
• Release date: Oct 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9780974629674

Amy Neftzger

Amy Neftzger (born June 23) is an American researcher and author who has published fiction books, non-fiction books, business articles, and peer review research. Her works have reached an international audience.Amy was born in Illinois and graduated from Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. She received her bachelors degree from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida and her Masters in Industrial/ Organizational Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She graduated from both Universities with honors.She has written numerous business and journal articles, but her fiction works have been the most commercially successful. In 2003 she published Conversations with the Moon, which was also translated into Korean and published in South Korea. In 2005 she collaborated with her husband, guitarist Tyra Neftzger on a children's book called "All that the Dog Ever Wanted." The book was designed to introduce children to jazz music at an early age and included a CD sampler of jazz tunes. In 2007 she worked as an editor on a business fable called "The Damned Company." She's also written "Confessions From a Moving Van" and "Leftover Shorts."In 2013, Amy released her first Young Adult book called "The Orphanage of Miracles." The sequel to this book, "The Orchard of Hope" is scheduled for release in June of 2014, and The Ferryman (adult fiction) is scheduled for release in October, 2014.

Book preview

Bedtime Stories for Dogs

by

Amy Neftzger

Copyright Amy Neftzger 2003

Published by FOG INK at Smashwords

Published by

Fields of Gold Publishing, Inc.

Copyright 2011 by Amy Neftzger

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or manner whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. For more information contact:

Fields of Gold Publishing, Inc.

PO Box 965

Brentwood TN, 37027.

Edited by Eli Stein.

Cover Design by Keri Neal

ISBN: 978-0-9746296-7-4

The book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to

individuals, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A Friendly Caution

Within this book there is one story labeled as A Tail of Horror. This type of story is not for the more gentle natured canines. While some dogs have a more adventurous spirit and enjoy the thrill of a scare, others of a more sensitive nature may find this type of story truly unnerving. Therefore, if you’re reading with one of these more sensitive souls you may wish to skip the story labeled as A Tail of Horror. You have been warned.

Table Of Contents

The Origin of the Universe

The Kitchen Visitor

Love Song to a Bunny

Dogs in Heaven

The Origin of Evil

The Origin of Death

On the Nature of Squirrels

The Bath

Lucky Dog

Riding in the Car

Why Dogs Are Natural Leaders

The Giant Slipper

The Mystery of Little B

Kibble Me This

Is Obedience Training Really Necessary?

The Fountain

Whippet the Sun

Why Dogs Don’t Live as Long as People

The Cone of Shame

Dirty Dishes

Having a Ball

Magic Yarn

The Origin of the Universe

A Mythic Tail

In the beginning there was chaos. The universe appeared more as an abstract work of art with bits of everything floating around and getting all mixed up like a bowl of multi flavored kibble. Nothing was whole. Nothing was ordered. There were no entire bits of thought or matter. A dog named Alpha took control of the situation and began barking to move the fragments around. The faster and louder Alpha barked, the more quickly the pieces moved away from his barking. The pieces slammed into one another and assembled by force. A commanding voice has this type of power over anything.

Alpha ran intricate patterns to assemble the nothingness into wholeness and order. He first assembled all the breeds of dogs. The herding dogs jumped into action to help Alpha arrange the rest of the universe. The working dogs pulled the organized pieces into their proper places and set them into motion so that the planets rotated around the suns in the solar systems. The toy dogs decorated the universe and spread beauty while the hound group sniffed out the related pieces that belonged together. The retrievers located stray pieces of chaos and brought them back into alignment with their proper positions. The terriers dug out renegade chunks of thought and matter to provide purity within the new form of order. All dogs worked together, including the guard dogs who were constantly protecting the work of the others from some crazy feline named Primo with a bow and arrow.

It was a team effort on a magnificent scale. Dogs brought harmony, order, and cooperation to the universe. They also set an example for all of creation on the importance of working together collaboratively to build a better world. The reason dogs bark today is to maintain the order Alpha created. Without dogs chaos would take over again.

The Kitchen Visitor

A Tail of Evil

Evil exists in many forms, as we dogs are acutely aware. We see it. We hear it. We know it. We recognize it. We watch it as we stare out the windows. The blowing leaf, the newspaper delivery, the sounds of daily life. The mail carrier may not be evil, but the mail often carries evil (sometimes referred to by such disguised names as bills or summons to jury duty). We dogs understand this. It’s the reason we bark. Evil is out there for certain. Human senses are dulled, which makes them more vulnerable and dependent upon us. We’re not just protecting their bodies and physical possessions. We have the important mission of defending their souls.

Sometimes evil makes its way indoors and we canines are on heightened alert. Evil may exist within appliances such as an ice maker or, more frequently, a vacuum cleaner that looks innocent enough but which can suck out your soul so fast that you’ll forgot that you ever had one. We dogs understand the sinister nature of these tools. Our companions go about the activities of their mundane human lives in blissful ignorance of the prevalence of evil in this world. It doesn’t matter. Dogs know what is out there patiently lurking for any opportunity to make its way inside. Evil is persistent and we dogs must be equally persistent with our barking. It’s our calling. We have the ability to envision the catastrophes that would exist if we were not on guard to keep evil at bay. It’s tiresome and often thankless work.