Dogservation

 

            Today's Snack: Have a Healthy Hot Dog - broil turkey franks and use whole-grain buns. Dress your dogs with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped cucumber and raw onion rings, and note that mustard has fewer calories than ketchup. Do you like dogs this way? They're ARF-ul good!

 

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Supplies:

 

Pen or pencil

Spiral notebook

(keep one around just for creative writing projects and ideas;

call it your After School Treats Journal)

 

 

 

Spend a few minutes observing a dog actively playing and running around outside. It can be your dog or a neighbor's. Write down what you see. Write down what the dog might be thinking. Describe the dog's body movements and apparent emotions. Train yourself to be more observant than usual and record every detail. You'll have to write fast if a bunny runs by!

 

            What are your impressions of how the dog uses its five senses? How are they not as keen as, or keener than, yours?

 

Draw several pictures of the dog in various body positions. Watch out for proportions: try to size the head properly compared to the trunk, and the length of the legs correctly. It's harder than it looks to draw an animal that's constantly moving, isn't it?

 

Now go back to your observation report and rewrite it into a story with the dog as the main character. Take your "dogservation" report and use it as the action, but invent a reason why the dog was acting the way it did.

 

            Most stories need a beginning, middle and end, with a clear problem that needs to be solved. Come up with your story based on the action you observed in the dog, plus the deeper meaning, humor and insight about dogs from these other people.

 

            Be sure to craft illustrations to go with.

 

            Write a good story - give it four legs and run with it!

 

Finally, read the following quotes. Don't read them until you've done your "dogservation," though. That way, your observations will be original and unique.

 

 

Quotations About Dogs   The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue. -Anonymous Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. -Ann Landers If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. -Will Rogers There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. -Ben Williams A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. -Josh Billings The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. -Andy Rooney We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. -M. Acklam Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. -Sigmund Freud I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. -Rita Rudner A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. -Robert Benchley Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. -Franklin P. Jones If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. -James Thurber If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise. -Unknown My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money. -Joe Weinstein Women and cats will do as they please,  and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!' - Dave Barry

 

By Susan Darst Williams • www.AfterSchoolTreats.com • Animals • © 2008