I live in a world with walls. Everywhere I go, or try to go, there is a barrier blocking me from the world, from content. A wall here, a fence there, a misunderstanding here, a judgment there. I have never built a wall to block out anyone or anything but as soon as people see me it is automatic, a wall is inevitable. A dog. I am a measly dog that only 5 people in this entire world even know. And yes they do love me but I want more, much more.

Everywhere I look there is something to block me. A fence or a wall or a door or a language, it never subsides. So many walls. Now don’t get me wrong I love my house, my owners, my life but I am an adventurer at heart and how can an adventurer be kept within a quarter of an acre his entire life? They just don’t understand me, and I’m not sure they ever will. I am simply a misconstrued canine walking amongst people in a human’s world. I try to tell them, I try to show them, but it is simply a lost cause. So what does lie beyond the wall? Well I can only imagine, only long to know and let my mind wander about the encounters I strive for. The few dreams I have, my imagination, pictures and movie on the television, or as far as my weak eyes can see are all I know, for certain, to lie beyond the wall. The largest hills I have ever seen, their tips capped with fresh white snow, fields of wheat taller than me just aching for me to bound through them, fresh rivers flowing as smooth as my fur, buildings so large they make me feel like a flea on a dogs coat, this is what I know to be out there and this is what I know I have no way of reaching. Anything I want, anything my peculiar brain can imagine, beyond these walls. I am not homeward bound, I am outward bound, and it consumes me. Chicks, food, parties, independence, everything that any normal person would look for beyond their constraints. And although I am not a person I am normal, as normal as caninely possible. If I could find one hole, one slip, I could solve the puzzling mystery of which I only have a very few pieces. The mystery that the walls serve with extreme intent, the mystery of the world.

The wall that haunts all animals, that I have began to crack, is communication. We are dumb and they are smart, chit chatting their way through life with complicated words that they use mostly to humiliate us for simply not being able to use them. We say “woof” and “ruff” while they say, “hello my friend what a glorious day would you like to take a walk?” I, on the other hand, am one four legged creature who has begun to not only sit when they tell me to sit (which is simply repetition, not knowledge) but to comprehend the sit along with the other jabber that is not even meant for me. This is not only an advantage for me to learn new tricks and impress them but to be connected into their world. With knowledge comes power and soon, if I become good enough, I will be able to use my power of understanding to beat them at their own game. I will be able to find the loop hole in their labyrinth of walls and set out on my adventurous dream. Now physical walls might be a challenge but the secret of this predicament is through intellect. And I have begun the journey to conquer the human’s vocabulary, make it part of my own, and use it to my advantage.

Maybe one day I will be able to jump that fence, or find that whole in the wall (thanks to them not knowing I understand their ridiculous words) and as I climb over, and reach the mystery on the other side I will be able to shout back “And you never knew what we are capable of” as I head towards finding the key that unlocks my adventurous mystery.