“I’ve had enough! Why won’t anybody listen to me!”

Ralph viciously paddled as Lulu and Topher trailed behind him, both waist deep in the mucky green water of the Trinity River. For once in Ralph’s life he wanted to do things his way.

It was always up to Lulu and Topher what Ralph did with his time. He had no autonomy. They would decide when he would get to eat, or play, or even use the bathroom. It was absolute torture for Ralph. He had attempted to air his grievances to them countless times before. He would spend long hours alone, contemplating exactly how he would phrase his feelings so it would make sense this time. It never worked. They would come home smiling, which would give Ralph the smallest amount of courage to get his words out. But every single time he shared his impassioned plea, they would look at him straight in the eyes, tussle his hair and tell him “good boy.” But today, Ralph was not going to be a good boy.

As Topher threw Ralph’s frisbee down the big open field at Trinity park for the tenth time, Ralph snapped. Ralph’s protestations and attempts to keep the frisbee had been ignored, and when Ralph caught it he just kept running. He ran and ran until he came upon the edge of the river. With no options other than to return the frisbee, he jumped in and started swimming as his captors pursued him. Every dog must have his day, this day was Ralph’s.

As Topher and Lulu got to the bank of the river they hesitated. They had floated the questionable river before, but this was going to completely derail their brunch plans. They jumped in anyway. They would do anything for their beloved dog.