What Goes Around...: Mr. Bud Wears the Cone by Carter Goodrich

MISTER BUD HAD A BAD HOT SPOT. HE CHEWED AND LICKED ALL NIGHT.

A big, lovable, easy-going mutt, Mr. Bud keeps Zorro, the fidgety, feisty pug, awake all night with his scratching.

Next morning, though, Zorro is up and at it, demanding their usual first-thing routine as usual. He barks insistently.

"BISCUIT! THEN WALK!

BISCUIT! THEN WALK!"

But their owner shushes Zorro and hugs Mr. Bud. She applies some ointment to Mr. Bud's itchy back and assures him that it will soon be better.

Zorro hates any interruption in his list of their daily routines. And he hates that Mr. Bud is getting all the attention.

But when the itchy hot spot is no better, their owner knows what comes next. Mr. Bud just can't help scratching and licking the spot. There is only one thing to be done.

The cone!

Conehead Mr. Bud is humiliated. When their owner leaves for work, he frantically tries to get it off. Trying to help, Zorro grabs it in his jaws and pulls, but the cone does not budge. Mr. Bud can't see well and keeps blundering into things. He can't play with Zorro. Bored, Zorro wanders off and figures out how to open the cupboard and spots the dog biscuits on the bottom shelf! Excited, he chews the box open and spills the biscuits all over the floor. He barks for Mr. Bud to come as he starts gobbling, but poor Mr. Bud can't reach them with the cone over his head. He tries to drink from his bowl, but that's a disaster. He collapses on the rug, disheartened.

At first Zorro enjoys taunting Mr. Bud, sneaking his toys and shaking them right in his face, but after a while, the teasing stops being fun.

It's a long day for Zorro and Mr. Bud, and when their owner finally returns, Mr. Bud doesn't even get up to join in "Greet and Make a Fuss Time" on Zorro's schedule. And it's not so much fun when their owner sees the dog biscuit box empty and chewed into shreds all over the floor. Who did it?

It's an open-and-shut case!

Zorro is in the figurative doghouse. But Mr. Bud's boo-boo is all better, He gets his cone removed and a special treat for being such a trooper, but being Mr. Bud, he shares his reward with Zorro. Mr. Bud is good to go--outside for a romp with his buddy.

AND THAT WAS THE END OF THE CONE....

Or not.

Zorro doesn't catch up on his sleep that night. He's up a lot, scratching....

Carter Goodrich's third book about his pair of lovable dog pals, Mister Bud Wears the Cone (Simon and Schuster, 2014), has all the subtle wit and charm of its predecessors. This unlikely pair of best friends are portrayed sympathetically and comically in Goodrich's funny but poignant tale of dealing with a best friend's temporary infirmity. What goes around comes around for the pesky Zorro, but it's all in good fun for dog owners attuned to canine interpersonal relations. See Zorro's backstory in the earlier books, Say Hello to Zorro! and Zorro Gets an Outfit (Junior Library Guild Selection) in my reviews here.