The Musings & Misadventures of Ziggy Moonbeam

Daily writing prompt

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

View all responses

Teefs. An important part of life for many species, including I, Canis familiaris… but you can call me Ziggy Moonbeam.

Let me tell you about my teefs, friends.

Unlike most of you, I was born with teefs, and they were sharp. When I went to live with Muvver and Farver, I often done a sharp on their hands and they would do a big “OUCH”. But they knowed that I couldn’t help it and they helped me learn how to handle my teefs properly so I knew when I was doing them a hurt and so I wouldn’t do an OUCH to another dog either.

My friend Timothy, a lovely young lad who lived down the road was the same age as me and together we also did learnings about the sharpness of our teefs, I on Timothy’s ear and Timothy on my neck.

Muvver said I were like an alligator with a mouf full of small, nasty razors.

Then somefin happened that wasn’t very nice, friends.

My teefs fell out.

At the time I thought this sort of thing would make Muvver do a big sad, but her and Farver were very happy. “At last,” they said and Grandfarver decided he would finally start wearing shorts again because his ankles were finally safe from my teefs.

Then they put all my little teefs in a tin and Muvver still has it on her shelves where she keeps such things and calls thems her treasures.

My new teefs were not as sharp and Muvver said “Now Ziggy, you have these splendid new gnashers and all that playing and all those OUCHS have helped you to learn how to handle those teeth, because with big boy teeth comes big responsibility.”

And she said it’s important that we looks after them well because I won’t grows another set, so every night when Farver says “Come on son, it’s time for bed”, I does a fast run up the stairs and I sits on the floor in the bathroom and I waits. Then, when Muvver and Farver comes up to bed, they sees me there and they says “Ziggy Moonbeam, you are the BEST BOY in the entire world” and then they gets my toofpaste and toofbrush out of the cupboard and they brush my teefs, twice on each side with careful workings to start doing the front ones too.

The toofpaste is a special one for dogs and once when Farver had swallowed three gin and tonics, I watched him do a wrong when he lifted MY toofbrush with it’s dollop of liver toofpaste to his mouf. He closed his teefs shut as soon as he realised, but he still gets it in his mouf a little and now when I sees him smile, in my head I shouts “HELLO LIVER TEEFS”.

We clean my teefs almost every night and Muvver says it is important because having clean teefs will also help me be healthy. I went to have dems properly cleaned this year too, but to do it the man in the white coat had to send me to the Land of Nod and afterwards I couldn’t walk in a straight line, so Muvver says we won’t have that done too much because it did her a real fright seeing me like that.

And that friends, is one of the ways I keeps a good health routine. And this I says to you: “ALWAYS BRUSH YOUR TEEFS”.