For those of you who have dogs, the following are excerpts from the book “Spooky Tales For Canines” by Hector Pittston (Swanston Press, 1951). Feel free to expand and improvise to suit your dog’s deepest fears and terrors.
From: The Kibble Kurse
“The bowl worked exactly as the crusty old cat had promised. No matter how much Harriet ate, the bowl was always full – and not just with the generic corn mush she usually ate. This bowl had the good stuff – beef tripe and fish offal flavor. From a can! Harriet ate and ate, so enraptured by her miracle kibble that she never noticed her stomach was getting larger…”
From: Return to Sender
“…and then Bingo realized the terrible truth: the postal carrier was inside the house.”
From: Stetson and the Silvery Stranger
“Stetson smelled something funny coming from Jan’s office. It was doggish, yet not doggish. As he approached the door he heard giggling. And the scent of…treats…Stetson’s treats! He peered around the corner and saw Jan. Jan was feeding treats to Mirror Dog! Mirror Dog was sitting quietly, doing exactly as Jan always wanted Stetson to do. That horrible, horrible dog was ruining everything. His whole life was being ruined by Mirror Dog.”
From: Kittotosis
“At last, Cherry’s dream had come true! Her jaws snapped down on the abdomen of the insolent cat. Cherry would finally have her revenge for all those mornings of Felix taunting her: sitting, staring, being where Cherry didn’t want him. All that would finally be made right with one glorious chomp. But it wasn’t to be. Her teeth began to dig into her hated nemesis, but then he seemed to just…fall out of either side of her mouth. She spun around, trying to find her target, and there he was, lounging on his front lawn. Or, rather, there they were. Now there were two Felixes.
Undaunted, Cherry charged one of the recumbent felines, clamping down on his disgusting neck, but as before, as soon as her teeth made contact, her jaws closed on empty air. Now there were five Felixes…”
From: The Inescapeable Hell Mop
"Twyla sat quietly in the car. She was too creeped out to whine, or pace, or wipe her nose on the windows, or any of the other things that usually entertained Suzie and Ernest. All Twyla could think about was her terrible morning. Cleaning days were always the worst. That is when the demon prowled the floors. She normally hated “Dog Training” classes, but anything was better than that awful mop monster. It was everywhere. All the time.
As Twyla and her people entered the cavernous gym, Princess Leia was widdling on the floor. As usual.
Then it happened. Speeding across the floor, the hairy, tentacled beast slithered through Princess Leia’s puddle toward Twyla. There was no escape."
From: The Biggest Bunny Hop
“Sarge was furious. A third bunny leaped into the air, joining Sarge’s tormentors, then a fourth, a fifth, and on and on. Soon the sky was dark with soaring rabbit flesh. They dived at Sarge, laughing as he failed to catch them. All the bunnies could fly, and there was nothing he could do about it.”
From: The Smell of Evil
“Something was strange, of that Parkay was sure. This was no ordinary night of T.V. watching. Brandon was acting weird and smelling weirder. Why hadn’t Brandon hit the roof when Parkay had eaten all Brandon’s potatoes? And why was he wearing that stupid ascot. She made a fateful decision and leaped onto the couch, grabbing the ribbon around Brandon’s neck and hopping back to the floor in one motion. Brandon’s head fell off, and the horrible smell washed into the room. In the stump of Brandon’s neck, a kitten was sitting in a tiny chair, pulling strings made of yarn with its front paws and pushing pedals with it’s back paws. The suddenly rickety automaton lurched to its feat.
‘Mew?’ said the kitten.’”
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