Max plays well with others, at least in his dreams

I have been spending a lot of time sleeping lately, cuddled in whatever cozy blanket I can find.  Winter is coming and I am thinking about hibernating.  However, the more I think about it, the less I want to do it.  Who would guard the house...and the food?  Oh, and of course, I need to guard my people, too.  So I just semi-hibernate, sleeping for hours during the day, then waking to eat and play with my people.  They love to play ball with me.  I kinda like it, too.  I need a good chase now and then to burn off my energy. 

I also need to go outside to take care of business, and to keep those pesky groundhogs from taking over the backyard.  As it is, I need to chase them away every night, because they come out after dark.  Sometimes I smell them on the other side of the fence, in a kind of no-man's-land between properties where they have a den.  They like to tease me by coming into my backyard, then scampering under the fence back to safe territory.  I cannot fit under the fence.  Sometimes I stay very still, until they come creeping into my land.  Then I chase them up the tree in my yard because they cannot make it back to home base.  I bark and try to climb the tree, too.  I cannot climb very well.  They laugh at me while they scamper over the tree branches back to their side.  I think about building a flying machine in order to fly over the fence to get them.

I just want to play with the little scampering things.  They are like large balls with legs.  I would even play with a skunk.  Skunks are like large striped balls with legs and a nose-piercing scent.  Mom does not like that idea very much.  She says that I should not play with skunks any more.  I can't help it if they come into my yard sometimes.  Maybe these are friendly skunks.  Sometimes I bark at them when they are outside the fence on the other side of the yard.  Mom comes out then, waving her arms and making ear-piercing sounds at me.  I think Mom wants to play with the skunks, too.  She brings me into the house for a while.  How can we play with the skunks if they don't come inside, too?  I lie on my blanket and dream of chasing many furry and striped balls around the backyard.  In my dreams I climb trees and play with everyone.