Canine Friendly by Joanne Morris Okano

     Canine Friendly lived in Venice with his family and friends.  Well, not all of his friends, but we'll get to that later.
     One day Canine Friendly was trotting down the street when a dog came up to him and sniffed his nose.  And barked.  And chased him down the street.  The dog tried to bite Canine Friendly's tail off, which was an unfriendly thing to do.  The other dog's name was ... wait for it...Canine Very Nasty.
      Canine Friendly ran away as fast as he could and wound up in Saint Mark's Square with lots of people around to keep him safe from Canine Very Nasty.  Or so he thought.
     "I'll get you if you say anything," growled Canine Very Nasty.  "I'll bite your tail off and your head off."  He tells lies this, Canine Very Nasty, so he started telling lies about Canine Friendly so that no one would believe him that he was being threatened by Canine Very Nasty.
      "Best to shut up," thought Canine Friendly.  "If I say anything, things are just going to get worse."  So he sat whimpering on the ground.
      Someone came by and asked Canine Friendly why he was whimpering.
      "Canine Very Nasty is after me!"  Canine Friendly trembled.
      Well, things got worse after that.  Canine Friendly was taken off to the dog pound.  And he was the good dog.
      He was very miserable in the dog pound.  Day after day went by and no one came to see him.  He missed his family and friends.  One day Jeremy came to free him by buying him his freedom. 
      Jeremy was a reading instructor at the International Institute in Venice.  He had a dear wife Nancy and their beloved daughter Lauralee who regularly took the plane to Switzerland as a flight attendant.
                                          llllllllllllllllllllllll
                                          sssssssssssssss                                                             ssssssss
                           eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  ssss   e

           gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

                          mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
                                              bbbbbbbbbbbbbb
                                               nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
                                               tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
                                                yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
                                                  dddddddddddd
                                                    zzzzzzzzzzzzz
                                                     kkkkkkkkk
                                                      cccccccc
                                                        uuuuuu
                                                          oooo

     He had a fantastic time teaching people reading and so Canine Friendly decided he would like to help people too, but he didn't know what to do.  He cried a little because he missed his mother and father and sisters and brothers a lot and so Jeremy took him to see them.
     One day they got out of sorts those two and had a fracas.  Guess who was laughing around the corner?  No, it couldn't have been...yes, it was... Canine Very Nasty with a sinister grin on his face.
     This was wrong of course and we must never think such things are funny.  I don't like Canine Very Nasty very much, do you?  I think he needs to be a better boy.  I'll see what I can do for him.
     Three angels with a degree in diplomacy came to earth to solve the problem.  After some consultation, they turned it over to Canine Friendly's mother who sat Canine Very Nasty down for a chat and taught him some manners.  That was all he needed.  He became Canine Nice.  And Nice and Friendly were seen together on occasion by the Doges Palace helping as guide dogs for the blind.
      And so you see, the happy ending is they both turned out to be good guys.
                                                                       THE END