Good evening. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember from last time all of us in the van were stunned by Bernard D. Bunny landing on the hood of the car with a distressed look upon his adorable furry face. His whiskers twitched wildly as if he didn’t know what to do with himself. He tapped aggressively on the windshield with his paw. “Let us in! Let us in!”

It was then that I saw his little sister Belle peek over his shoulder, her eyes wide and frightened as she clung to his back.

“Open the door, Ruffles,” I told Ruffles the bulldog. “They are in danger!”

“But the kidnappers are getting ready to leave,” he said.

“Open the door!”

“We’ll never find my sister if you let them in,” Artemis said.

“Open the passenger side door,” I said. “They won’t see us.”

“We need to leave the bunnies behind,” Charlotte the Chow said.

How utterly unreasonable. I leaped into the front seat and pressed the button on the door. The window lowered and our dearest two bunnies hopped inside. As soon as Belle’s cotton tail had cleared the glass, a snarling blur of angry jaws and claws lurched at the window, its long vicious snout poked inside. But what was most disturbing was the creature’s loud piercing howl.

As soon as it began to wail, the woman in the camo and the tattooed man whipped their heads around in our direction. This was one of the only times in my life I felt smart and stylish to be riding in a van with tinted mirrored windows. Through my opera glasses I could see them both mouth the word “coyote”. And by the look of the size of the monster, I could tell it was the dreaded Crispin.

“My word,” Madeline the British Shorthair said. “It’s a werewolf!”

“There are no such things as werewolves,” Edison the Manx assured her. “But that thing is horrifying!”

For the first time I have ever known them the dachshund twins were frozen in place. Their eyes wide with terror.

“They’re starting up the engine!” Artemis said pointing her paw towards the van. “We need to go!”

“She’s right,” Ruffles said. “We need to go!”

Suddenly, Crispin jumped on the hood of the van, his breath blasting steam on the window.

“They’re looking our way,” Ruffles said.

“Don’t move till they move,” Charlotte the Chow said. “Pretend we aren’t even here.”

“Give me those rabbits!” Crispin demanded, his bark was harsh and sharp.

“Certainly not,” I barked back. “You have no right to eat our friends.”

“I’ll eat you too,” he barked with menace.

“Don’t be absurd. That would be cannibalism.”

“A sarcastic poodle. Why am I not surprised?”

“We’re busy here. Try and remember you’re an omnivore and go eat some fruit, you uncouth twit.”

“They’re leaving,” Ruffles said.

“Drive!” Artemis yelled.

“We’re not done, poodle,” Crispin said sliding his paws off the door.

“We are for now,” I said as Ruffles hit the gas. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: GOOD BOY (2025)-HULU

After featuring a handful of television shows on the blog, I am going to turn the spotlight onto some recent films which have finally come to streaming. This first one is a sleeper of an Indi-movie with a new twist on the old monster in the house story. And unlike a lot of horror stories out there, this one has an unusual sweetness and depth you don’t often find in these types of films.

In his break-out performance Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Indy who plays, well, Indy is the beloved and loyal companion of Todd (Shane Jensen). The story is seen entirely through Indy’s perspective. Todd is not doing well. When we first meet him, he is lying on his couch unconscious, blood leaking out of his mouth. His sister Vera (Arielle Friedman) finds him along with Indy who refuses to leave his side. Vera quickly gets him ushered to the hospital but not long after, Todd is released. He heads home with Indy and packs a couple of suitcases, throws them in the back of his car and he and Indy head out to a house in the woods that belonged to he and Vera’s grandfather.

Vera calls Todd and says she wants to come over and check on her brother, but Todd tells his sister he dreads every time the phone rings and it is her. The two discuss how the house is thought to be haunted and there is some indication their grandpa (Larry Fessenden) did not die under the best of circumstances. In addition, in their conversation they briefly discuss how sensitive dogs are and how much more alert to things humans often miss. Indy immediately starts to pick up signals something is wrong such as Bandit (Max) grandpa’s dog showing up and leading Indy to eerie parts of the house.