read his brand new book that Angel had bought for him; The Encyclopedia of Rugby Union; to continue his research into the game.

 

For about an hour he sped-read through more than half of the book; familiarizing himself with the history of the game; the responsibilities of the on-field positions; the top international teams; the star players; the Six Nations, Pacific Nations, Super Rugby, and Tri Nations tournaments; the great national teams of the world; and the Rugby World Cup.

 

Shortly after he had finished reading about the Rugby World Cup, he heard a very familiar and personally unlikable call coming from Jim Dear’s voice in the kitchen:

 

“Alright, everyone; Time for your bath! Water’s hot!”

 

“Alright, yeah!” Came the excited calls from Annette. “I love baths. Me first! Me first!”

 

“No, me first! You got dibs last time!” Collette protested.

 

“Wait a minute! I am going first!” Danielle also protested. The three of them were always so eager to get to have the first bath because they loved it so much. They were running around the kitchen barking frantically, desperate to be the first one to get bathed.

 

“Ahhhh!” Scamp groaned in frustration. “Not again! They know how much I hate baths. Can’t they just give it a break for a couple of months or so?”

 

“That is not as easy as you would like it to be, my good mate.” Came a familiar beautiful voice to Scamp as it entered the room.

 

“Oh!” Scamp jumped in surprise and slight fright as though he was not expecting anyone to walk in on him at this moment. He turned around and saw Angel walking into the study. “Jeez, Angel; you scared me.”

 

“Sorry, tenderfoot.” Angel apologized with slight amusement at the reaction that Scamp exhaled before her. “I didn’t mean to get you in the middle of study.”

 

“That’s okay, love. I am always delighted to be interrupted by you: The most beautiful canine I have ever known.”

 

“Oh, Scamp!” Angel replied, blushing at Scamp’s charm. She then came up and embraced him lovingly. After breaking off, she spoke again.

 

“Still despising the old bath, are we, Mr. Rugby-Obsessed?”

 

“Please stop mentioning it. Every single house dog has to go through this every damn week or fortnight. Why can’t they give us a break and let us just get a little bit dirty. It can’t hurt that much.”

 

“Scamp, listen.” Angel started again, knowing that her mate needed serious help with this bath-hating habit. “I know how much you don’t like having a bath, and trust me when I was living with my previous families I used to feel the same way, but you have to understand that some things that you have to have or do that can sometimes displease are supposed to do you good. Getting cleaned will be good for you in the long term because it will stop fleas getting into your fur and then you will not have to keep scratching all the time. It will also prevent your fur from being lost and looking like how Scratchy did. Plus if you want to look good and make impressions to the canines and people around you, then cleaning and grooming is the way to attract attention.”

 

“You know that for sure?” Scamp asked, feeling these words of wisdom from his mate.

 

“I have been there that many times it’s not funny. You are not taking it because you are in trouble and it is not going to cause any harm. It is just a matter of keeping clean and fresh. Plus I think you will find from your research that all rugby players bathe and shower after every match and training session; because they would get so dirty and sweaty from all the running, collisions and falling to the ground that the odors they would be carrying would smell so bad that no one would want to hang around them until they clean themselves up. I don’t think that you want that, do you?”

 

She does have a point, actually. Scamp thought. All that physicality and running would not help their personal hygiene at all. I suppose people would complain about that. “No, you’re right, Angel. That does make sense.” Scamp replied in slight discomfort at the thought. He knew now that he would not want to do anything further to make others think less of him.

 

“Just trust me on this.” Angel continued, noticing Scamp cringing. “Look…,” She pulled herself close to Scamp and lowered her voice slightly. “…just try to show some decency towards this and take the bath. It will only last a minute or so and then you will be free. And I’ll make you a deal: Show some control and manners and go to bathe, and then we’ll go out on a date tonight. Plus you can choose a nice place for us to go. How does that sound?”

 

Scamp considered that thought and knew that it was a pretty fair deal. He had already experienced showering in leaking water under a water tank and swimming in the river, so that seemed very much like bathing to him. Plus he knew that if he was going to play rugby, he would have to change his habits because he knew that the game demanded commitment and responsibility. So he decided to oblige. Besides, one quick bath won’t hurt. Came Scamp’s final thought as he replied out loud:

 

“That’s sounds like a deal, baby. I’ll do it right away!”

 

And he immediately jumped off the study chair and headed to the kitchen, where the hot water was steaming inside the dog bath, and immediately sat down next to his three sisters; who were all looking quite surprised at Scamp’s obedience to the bathing call.

 

“Woah!” Annette exclaimed towards her brother “How on earth did you get here so easily without being forcefully carried?”

 

“Yeah, you hate baths, bro.” Danielle added in likewise surprise.

 

“Things change, sis.” Scamp replied with a smile towards his sisters. “Watch this:” And he starting barking up at Jim Dear, who was near the bath and ready to clean and condition his second-generation canines.

 

“Scamp?” Jim Dear remarked in surprise as he got the message that Scamp wanted the first bath. This was something that he definitely was not used to. “I didn’t even have to carry you here to get you in as I always do! What has gotten into you all of a sudden?”

 

Scamp continued to bark at his owner to get Jim Dear to bathe him first. Scamp did want to show some manners and consideration, but also he wanted the first bath so that it would all be over in a hurry and he could then stop worrying and complaining about it.

 

“You want the first bath, huh?” Jim Dear asked, still surprised but also delighted at Scamp’s change of behaviour at the same time. “Alright, then. Come on up. But you have to keep still; no wriggling; or there will be consequences. Okay, boy?”

 

Scamp obediently nodded immediately. Jim Dear then lifted Scamp up and put him in the bath. Once in, he rubbed shampoo all over his fur and scrubbed him. That was the bit that Scamp didn’t like most: Being scrubbed. Because to him it brought a rough feeling and it would sometimes cause irritation or minor pain. But this time he didn’t really feel anything irritating or painful and he handled it fine. After being scrubbed for about a minute, Scamp was then taken out of the bath and given a rinse down under the tap, where the shampoo would be washed off of his body and disposed of through the sink. Jim Dear then dried him off with a towel and gave him a quick brush all over his body with the grooming brush before letting him go. Scamp did not wriggle or lose control once through the whole bath, which really pleased Jim Dear because this made his job a whole lot easier.

 

“You were so well behaved, Scamp.” Jim Dear said as he let Scamp back down onto the floor. “In fact that is the best behaved you have ever been before. You are a very good boy. For that, you get a little treat.”

 

Jim Dear then got a couple of nice liver treats from the little packet of special pet foods and gave them to Scamp, which Scamp accepted and ate them up quickly. He then gave Jim Dear a lick on his hand to say, ‘thank you’, and immediately exited the room.

 

“And no more playing rough after bathing, Scamp!” Jim Dear ordered after him. “You know what happened last time.”

 

Scamp turned and barked a simple ‘yes’ reply with a nod of the head so a human could understand the message, and continued to walk off.

 

“Can you believe what we just saw?!” Collette said in amazement.

 

“He really has changed his ways.” Annette replied. “This is not the Scamp we used to know anymore.”

 

“Well, you do learn within time, don’t you?” Danielle said. “He did say that times changed, so I think that he knows very well now. I really admire that in him.”

 

They could have talked a bit longer, but Jim Dear had picked Annette up and he was ready to bathe her and the rest of the crew.

 

Meanwhile, Scamp met Angel back in the study.

 

“So, how did it go?” Angel asked, interested to hear Scamp’s bathing discipline.

 

“Not as bad as I thought.”

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