Some behind the scenes secrets about Team Small Dog.

Sometimes when it's Gary's day off and I go to work, I leave the dogs with him.

He makes them oatmeal. With butter. Every so often, pancakes. With syrup.

I think he gives Gustavo the most.

They hang out in the backyard if it's a sunny day and wait for me to get home.


When they hear my car drive up, they totally freak out. The dogs, not Gary.

Actually, it's mostly just Otterpop. She's supposed to find herself a toy and shove it in her mouth when she feels the need to completely lose her shit with manic barking. I always tell her, "Go shove something in your mouth!" and she runs and finds the nearest something and it plugs her up.


When I get home and the dogs are with Gary, she never gets a something and shoves it in her mouth until I yell at her from the driveway. She runs out the back door, grabs the nearest soggy stuffed carcass and shakes it around like she's killing it until she settles down.

It soothes her to kill stuffed monkey arms.


I always ask Gary if he tried to get her to find something to shove in her mouth to shut herself up. He looks at me, and he looks at her, shakes his head, and just starts muttering.


You can just make out, "Goddamn Otterpop," out of the mutters.

Both of us make him mutter sometimes.

But then he'll always share his french fries with us.

Even if he's still muttering.