The Puppy Who Loved Cheese

A story of a puppy, the man who adopts him, and how the puppy learns to make cheese

The Shelter

A little brown puppy was curled up, asleep on a faded blue blanket. He was in a building with bright lights, which he could still see a bit when he closed his eyes. A lot of dogs were barking nearby, but they didn’t bother him. He’d gotten used to the constant noise, and he slept despite the chaos around him.

The puppy vaguely remembered his life before he came to this place. He remembered being very cold and shivering a lot. His stomach had hurt a lot from being hungry. He had walked on grass and pavement and under the sky. He missed the sky. He liked it much better in this place, though. He had a bowl of food, a bowl of water, a bone for chewing, and a blanket. He was content, but he felt like he was waiting for something. He kept his eyes on the door to his little area, watching the occasional person walk by. He knew that one day an adventure would come for him. He tried to be very patient waiting for it, but he hoped it would come soon.

One day, the puppy was doing his normal routine of patiently watching person after person pass by his kennel without stopping for him. Then, things stopped being normal, and the puppy’s adventure arrived. It arrived with a man who wore a red shirt. The man had come to stand right in front of the puppy’s door. He had been walking down the hall past the row of dogs and had stopped to look more closely at this puppy.

When the puppy saw the man, the puppy’s tail wagged and his eyes lit up. Something told him that this man was special. When the man picked up the puppy and held him close to his chest, the puppy knew. The man wore a soft flannel shirt that reminded the puppy of his blanket. He felt calm and happy in the man’s arms. The way the man smelled made the puppy think of rain, grass, and the outdoors. The puppy remembered very little about the outdoors, but he very much wanted to see the sky again.

When the man walked the puppy out of the bright, loud building and into the outdoors, the puppy was so happy. It was warm. He didn’t remember the outdoors being warm. There were also a lot more colors out here than he’d remembered. Though he remembered a little, it was new in so many ways. A bit of cool rain landed on the puppy’s nose, tickling him. The puppy’s nails clicked on the pavement on he happily followed the man to a bright red truck. The man carefully placed the puppy on a towel on the passenger seat, and together they drove away, the puppy happily looking out the window as they drove. He had only been on his adventure a short time, but he had already seen flowers, a bright red truck, and the sky!

The Ride

The man was called “Karl.” Karl wasn’t sure what to call the puppy yet, but he knew that if he gave the puppy a few days or so, the puppy might find a way to let him know what name would be suitable. Karl had owned a couple dogs before. One of them had been really fast, so Karl had called him Rocket. The other had been fond of giving slobbery doggy kisses, so Karl had called him Cupid.

Karl looked over at the puppy in the seat beside him. The puppy was only a few months old, so Karl wasn’t sure how big the puppy would get. His paws were big, though, which meant he might get quite big. He was dark brown, and his front paws were white. The puppy looked like he was wearing socks. He seemed very well-behaved sitting on the seat beside Karl. The puppy looked at Karl and grinned. He turned back to the window, his tail wagging in sheer delight as he watched the landscape zooming by.

Karl lived on the outskirts of town. He drove down a long gravel driveway, and his house came into view. The puppy’s eyes got wide. It was so big!

Karl’s house was a two-story farmhouse. Karl had painted it white, and there were green shutters that could be closed over the windows when it got cold. The puppy was intrigued with the big porch. That would be a great place for napping in the sun!

The puppy bounded out of the truck when Karl opened the door. He wanted to get to the sunny spot on the porch, but he couldn’t resist rolling in the grass first. Oh, he’d missed grass. Karl rubbed his belly while he wiggled in the warm grass.

The puppy grinned up at Karl. He was so happy! This was a very good adventure indeed.

A New Home

Karl showed the puppy around the house. The puppy looked and sniffed and wagged his tail all during Karl’s tour.

There was a den area where Karl liked to relax and watch television at night. Working on his little farm could be very tiring, and sitting down for awhile after dinner helped Karl to relax.

The kitchen smelled wonderful to the puppy. He smelled that food had been cooked here many times. There was a water bowl in the corner of the kitchen. Since the puppy was thirsty, he drank some of the water.

Karl reached under the counter and pulled out a container and a red bowl. He poured dog food from the container into the bowl. The pieces of food clinked against the dish and were very happy sounds to the puppy. He sat in front of Karl, hoping that the food was for him. Karl put the bowl in front of the puppy on the floor. The puppy looked up at Karl, wanting to make sure that it was okay for him to eat. Karl nodded and pushed the food a bit closer to the puppy, who happily began eating.

After the puppy finished his dinner, Karl continued the tour.

There was a dining room with a big table and lots of chairs. The puppy thought that it didn’t smell like it had been used recently. Maybe it was only used on special occasions.

There was a carpeted staircase that led to a second level. The puppy had not encountered a staircase before. He was a bit hesitant to go up, but after a few minutes of trying to figure out how it worked, he dashed upstairs. He ran back downstairs and got very excited. He liked stairs! He ran back upstairs to join Karl, who was very amused at the puppy’s discovery of stairs.

Upstairs were a couple bedrooms that Karl said were kept ready for guests. There was also a bathroom that didn’t particular interest the puppy. He looked suspiciously at the giant tub. He had received a “bath” in something like that when he was in the shelter. He had not enjoyed it.

The best part about the upstairs was Karl’s bedroom. It smelled like Karl and was very lived-in. There was a pile of clothes in a hamper that smelled like Karl, sweat, and the farm. The puppy started to try to climb into the hamper to smell the clothes better. Karl picked him out of the hamper.

“Puppy,” Karl said, smiling, “You don’t need to get into the dirty laundry.” He carried the puppy carefully to an area beside his bed. There was a puppy bed already set up, and Karl set the puppy on top of the bed. “Here is your bed,” Karl said, petting between puppy’s ears. “This is all yours. And here,” he said pointing to a box with toys in it, “is a toy box with toys just for you.”

The puppy eased towards the toy box to look inside. There was a rope toy for tugging, a bone for chewing, and several fluffy toys. He’d never had a fluffy toy. He picked one up with his teeth. The toy was shaped like a hedgehog and definitely needed to be chewed on. The puppy brought it back to where Karl had put him on the bed. This was awesome! He had a soft bed, toys, and a soft hedgehog. The puppy licked Karl’s hand and lay down, putting his head near the hedgehog.

Karl smiled, happy that the puppy seemed to like the area he had set up for him. Then he went to bed, too. It had been a very exciting day, and both puppy and human were very, very tired.

First Days

The next day, Karl was at his desk, working on his computer. The puppy was asleep beside him on a soft bed in the sun. It was just after lunch, and Karl thought that a nap sounded wonderful. He couldn’t nap today, but he was glad that the puppy was happily napping. He knew it would take some time before the puppy felt like this was his home, but Karl was happy to see that he seemed to like it here so far.

Karl had wanted a dog for quite a while. He owned bees and goats, and there were wild animals in the area that bothered his animals sometimes. A fox, possum, or a snake could cause trouble and hurt one of his animals. Karl wanted to train the puppy to help protect the animals and to generally be helpful on the farm.

The puppy was a welcome addition to Karl’s home. Karl had put together two areas for the puppy. One was upstairs and was just a soft bed beside Karl’s for using at night. The other was on the main floor and was used more often: a soft bed for daytime naps, a water bowl that was always kept full, a food bowl that was filled twice a day, a box of bones and toys for chewing, and a window to look out of while Karl worked at his desk. Karl often worked in the den, and having the puppy close by made him feel happy. Before going to the shelter to find a companion, Karl had gotten the puppy supplies together and knelt by the puppy bed. He closed his eyes, thinking about the kind of dog he so wanted to find, and made a little wish for things to turn out right.

Karl opened his eyes and looked over at the little puppy napping beside him. Things seemed to have turned out right so far, but this was just a puppy still. He would grow, physically and as an individual. What kind of personality would he develop? What kind of dog would he become?

A Guest

After a few days, Karl had a guest come to his house. The puppy was very excited at seeing this new person. Since Karl was happy to see her, the puppy was happy, too.

The puppy followed Karl and his guest, Maria, around the house as they talked. In the kitchen, Karl poured a couple drinks , and he and Maria talked while they nibbled on the crackers and lovely smelling cheeses that Karl had put out. These were just appetizers. Karl had something cooking in the oven that smelled so, so yummy and made the puppy’s tummy growl.

Karl and Maria walked down into the basement for a few minutes to take a look at something Karl had found at a yard sale last weekend. The puppy stayed in the kitchen. The basement was dark, chilly, and damp. It wasn’t a place he wanted to go unless Karl explicitly asked him for him to go to.

The puppy waited patiently for Karl and Maria to come back. At least, he tried waiting patiently. The scents of the cheeses on the counter and dinner baking in the oven made him so hungry. He hadn’t had dinner yet. Maybe just a closer smell would stop his hunger.

The puppy popped his paws up on the kitchen counter. There were four cheeses on the plate.

The first one was yellow and looked very dense and hard. It smelled very sweet.

The second one was soft and round. It looked very creamy and white.

The third cheese looked like slices of a cake. It had an outside area called a rind that was dusted with something white. It looked like the icing on a cake. The cake part of the cheese was soft and smelled slightly lemony.

The fourth cheese was very funny looking. It was white with blue veins running through it, like ink spilled into a bucket of water. It was crumbly and looked very messy to the puppy. It smelled spicy and peppery.

The puppy really wanted to taste the first cheese. He’d just take a bite, so Karl wouldn’t notice. Just a small bite, he thought.

Soon Karl and Maria returned to the kitchen. Maria spotted the altered cheese plate first.

“Karl,” she said, “I don’t think we ate all of that cheese.” Karl looked over at the plate, and his eyes got big. He looked down at the puppy, who looked both remarkably content and also a bit sheepish.

“I know we didn’t eat all of that particular cheese. I guess someone has a preference for cheddar cheese.” He knelt beside the puppy, who pushed his head under Karl’s hand, almost like the pup was apologizing. Karl rubbed the puppy’s head and ears. He couldn’t be mad.

“I guess we found a name for you, at least,” Karl said to the puppy. “Cheddar. Do you like that?” The puppy looked up at Karl and wagged his tail. He was so glad Karl wasn’t angry with him that he didn’t mind what Karl called him. This name was quite nice actually. He liked it the more he thought about it. “Cheddar.” Yes, he liked that very much indeed.

Karl thought for a moment. “Cheddar,” he said, “I think that since you seem to like cheese so much, you should learn how it’s made. Perhaps learning about the process will make you appreciate it even more. Besides, you need to know more about the animals and what goes on here so that you can start learning how to help out.”

“If you like,” Maria said to Karl and Cheddar, “you can bring him to my place, too. He can meet the cows.”

Karl smiled at Maria. “That would be wonderful, Maria. Thank you.” He turned to the puppy. “Cheddar, tomorrow you’ll start learning about that cheese you just wolfed down.” He smiled and ruffled Cheddar’s ears.

Cheddar grinned up at Karl. Maybe this “learning” thing would get him more cheese!

A Cheerful Morning

Cheddar woke up very excited the next morning. He had slept on a very comfortable puppy bed beside Karl’s bed. Being so close to Karl had made Cheddar feel happy and safe. Now that it was light out, he was eager to learn more about the wonderful cheeses he had tasted yesterday.

Cheddar popped his paws up on Karl’s bed. Karl’s face was close, so Cheddar licked him happily, hoping that would wake him up. Karl giggled as he woke up. He saw a very happy puppy tail wagging for him to get up. He sighed and sat up. He had worn socks to bed, and now Cheddar grabbed a sock with his teeth trying to pull Karl further out of bed.

“No, Cheddar,” Karl said firmly. Cheddar stopped tugging, sat down, and tilted his head up at Karl.

“You shouldn’t chew on my socks, Cheddar.” He pointed to Cheddar’s toy box. “Those are the things you can chew on. Those are your things.” He pointed to his socks and said, “These are mine, so you don’t chew on these. Do you understand?” The puppy thought for a minute. This made sense. Karl had things that were just for him, and Cheddar had an things that belonged to just him, too. Having things that belong to HIM was super exciting. He grinned up at Karl to indicate that he understood.

“Alright then,” Karl said. “Let’s go get some breakfast.” At this, Cheddar bounded downstairs, and Karl followed.

Meeting the Farm

After breakfast, Karl began showing Cheddar his farm. It wasn’t a big farm. He had goats, bees, and a small vegetable garden. He only grew enough vegetables for himself and to give a bit to neighbors.

Karl showed Cheddar the vegetable garden first. Cheddar romped through the rows while Karl told him about how the garden varied by the season. Cheddar wasn’t old enough to really understand seasons, so this didn’t make much sense to him. He didn’t know what Karl meant by “fall” or “winter.” The words seemed to make sense, but he couldn’t imagine what it was like. Karl told him that he’d understand these things before too long, so the puppy was content to wait and see. Besides, it sounded like fun to run around with the ground covered in frozen rain. When Karl tried to describe it, it just sounded funny to Cheddar and made him smile.

Cheddar liked smelling the things in Karl’s garden. Most of the plants were young and growing, according to the Karl. There were lots of green shoots that would supposedly grow into brightly colored things to eat, like big, red tomatoes in the fall. Cheddar really wanted to see one in Karl’s garden. He had seen a tomato on Karl’s kitchen counter, and he wasn’t really clear on how such a small plant could produce such a big thing. Cheddar thought that it would hurt the plant to have to hold it up, but Karl said that the plants would grow big and strong, just like Cheddar would.

Cheddar roamed the rows of early plants. So many just looked like green pieces of grass or weed, but Karl pointed out each one and told him what they would become. There were early pepper plants, lettuces, potatoes, corn, onions, beans, carrots, and radishes. He used his nose. While there may not be too many differences in the looks of these young plants, they certainly smelled different. Cheddar wondered if they would smell even more different as they grew.

The lettuces were bigger than most of the other plants. “Those,” Karl said, bending to pick one up, “are ready for eating.” Cheddar tilted his head to the side and looked at Karl. This one didn’t smell great to him, so he wasn’t sure he wanted to eat those. “Don’t worry,” Karl said, smiling at him. “Puppies don’t eat lettuce. People do.”

Karl walked a couple rows over and bent down. He pulled a plant that Cheddar didn’t think was very big, and a pretty orange root emerged. Karl pulled a plant from the row beside it, and a purple root came up. This was amazing, Cheddar thought. There was a rainbow of roots below him. He started to dig where he was, hoping to find more colorful roots.

“No, Cheddar,” Karl said, coming over. “Those plants aren’t ready. These carrots and radishes are ready, though many of the carrots are still young. Most plants produce food above the ground, but some, like these and the potatoes, will produce food below the ground. Sometimes it isn’t as obvious when we just look at them when they’re going to be ready for harvesting, but I keep careful track of when the vegetables are planted and how they’re growing.”

Discovering Bees

The next thing Cheddar learned about was the bees.

They were noisy! Cheddar heard them long before he saw their hives. Karl and Cheddar walked down a hill to the hives. Karl told him as they approached that some people were afraid of bees, but as long as you didn’t bother them, they weren’t likely to harm you.

The air was filled with bees flying to and from the hives. Karl put on a funny looking hat with a web-like material hanging down. He said that it kept the bees from landing on his face.

A bee landed on Cheddar’s nose. Cheddar’s eyes crossed trying to look at him. The bee flew away before Cheddar could say hello. Cheddar tried to call hello to the bees. They were funny flying around!

Karl smiled at Cheddar’s happy yips. Some dogs really didn’t like bees, and Karl was happy to see that Cheddar liked them just fine.

“Cheddar,” Karl said. “Come look at this.” He knelt down near a hive.

Cheddar walked over to Karl and looked where Karl was looking. Karl pointed and said, “You see how they wiggle? They dance to tell the others where the food is.” Cheddar watched, fascinated with this wiggle-talking.

The bees returning to the hives danced their little wiggle dance. They wiggled the direction of the food, and they wiggled the distance. They danced in the shape of a figure eight if the food was farther away and a circle if it was very, very close. Cheddar was fascinated. This was a wonderful thing to learn! The bees might have much more to teach him, but Karl wanted to show him one more thing before lunch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg

Meeting Goats

Stretching down, way down the pasture was a fence. It ran beside the road, and Karl said that the fence was as much for the protection of the goats as it was for the people who drove along the road. That was very considerate, thought Cheddar.

Cheddar eyed the goats as Karl opened a gate in the fence. Cheddar wasn’t quite sure what to make of these funny creatures. They made such odd sounds! meeeeh. meeeeh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCxQH8lmStU

“Come on, Cheddar,” Karl said, holding the gate open for Cheddar. Cheddar followed Karl inside. Karl told him that he was careful to close the gates quickly before any of the goats decided it would be fun to play a game of make-Karl-chase-the-goat. One goat in particular, Gretchen, loved to play that game. Karl had spent the better part of a morning last week trying to get Gretchen back inside the safety of the pasture.

Gretchen had come towards the gate when she saw Karl and Cheddar arriving. Cheddar slowly approached her and tried to smell her. Surely his nose would help him figure out this strange animal. Gretchen stared at the puppy. She seemed to look bored and annoyed at the same time. Cheddar didn’t see how she was looking at him though. He was too focused on her smell.

Cheddar’s nose picked up a scent that got him excited. This goat creature smelled a bit like the cheese he had tasted yesterday! He moved closer to Gretchen. He could smell it… It was right there somewhere… He circled Gretchen trying to find the cheese. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of this.

There it is! Cheddar’s nose isolated the scent. His nose moved closer to the scent, and he shoved his head under Gretchen’s stomach trying to get closer, almost lifting Gretchen off the ground!

“Hey, now!” Gretchen shouted at Cheddar. “Just what do you think you’re doing?! That’s no way to treat a lady.” She bounced a few feet from Cheddar’s rude nose.

Cheddar looked surprised. He sat down and looked at Gretchen. He tilted his head at her. “You have cheese in your tummy,” he said.

“I…what?” Gretchen asked, surprised. Then she laughed, realizing what was going on. She couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes. Karl was holding his sides and laughing over by the gate. He’d seen Cheddar shove his head under Gretchen and thought it was one of the funniest things he’d ever seen in his life.

Cheddar looked at Gretchen. He looked at Karl. He couldn’t figure out what was so funny. This goat smelled like cheese, so where was the cheese? He wanted some.

Karl walked over to Cheddar and patted his head. “I see you found the provider of that cheese you had yesterday,” he said. “For all her mischievousness, Gretchen’s milk produces some of the best cheese on the farm.”

Gretchen’s milk? Cheddar looked at Gretchen, who had tears running down her face from laughter.

“I don’t have cheese in my stomach,” Gretchen told him. “I produce milk. Karl uses that milk to make his cheese, so that’s why you think I smell like cheese. Your cheese actually smells like my milk.” This kind of made sense to Cheddar, but he wasn’t sure how milk became yummy cheese. He looked up at Karl, who was rubbing his head.

“Gretchen is a doe, a female goat,” Karl said. He pointed to a young goat leaping across the pasture. “There is her kid, Fidget. Fidget needs his mother’s milk, but what he doesn’t need, I use to make cheese.” He looked across the pasture at Fidget and wondered if he smelled like cheese, too. Smelling cheese made Cheddar want cheese.

Karl started walking down the pasture, so Cheddar followed him. Gretchen followed, too, curious about this new individual on the farm.

“The cheese starts here,” Karl said. “The goats eat things in this pasture and things that I bring them. How their milk tastes is influenced by what they eat. If they eat a lot of sour things, their milk may taste sour. If they eat a lot of sweet things, like honey, the milk will be a bit sweeter.” Cheddar grinned. This part made sense.

“The female goats produce milk when they have a baby, called a kid,” Karl continued, pointing out some of the female goats he was talking about. Cheddar said hello to each one and tried to smell as much as possible as they passed. He was careful not to get too close like he had with Gretchen. He didn’t think these goats would like it much either.

“The first priority for the milk is the kids,” Karl said. “The mother goats produce milk so their kids have something to eat. The baby goats can’t eat solid food right away, so they need their mothers’ milk, just like a human baby or a puppy. It wouldn’t be fair to take away the milk that should be available for the young ones, so the only milk I take is the surplus milk, whatever milk isn’t needed for the kids.”

“Fidget is starting to eat more solid food and beginning to graze in the pasture more,” Gretchen said to Cheddar, “so Karl can use more of my milk as Fidget uses less of it.”

Karl opened the door to a shed. “This is where I milk the goats,” he said. “I can milk them by hand, or if I need some help, I can put a device onto the goat that will help milk her for me.” He held up a device that Cheddar thought looked dreadful. He looked with wide eyes at Gretchen.

“Oh, it doesn’t hurt,” Gretchen said. “At least, it doesn’t when he puts it on right.” She grinned. “I certainly let him know if it isn’t positioned right.” She laughed to herself. Her favorite way of informing Karl of such discomfort was to bite him. She didn’t bite hard, but Karl always got the point.

Karl was right, Cheddar thought. She is mischievous. He liked Gretchen. She was funny and nice. She helped explain things. He would come back later to ask Gretchen questions after he had had time to think through things and think of questions. He was a bit overwhelmed right now.

Thoughts Before Bed

When Cheddar curled up on his bed that night, his head was swimming with all the stuff he’d learned that day. He was exhausted with so much learning! It sure was fun to learn about the farm, though. The vegetables were young and would grow into great big plants. The bees went buzz, buzz, buzz. The goats bounded around, smelled like cheese, and made a kind of meeeehhh sound. They were funny. He liked it here. Cheddar fell into a deep, deep sleep with a very happy heart.

Learning How Cheese Is Made

In addition to learning about the farm, Cheddar learned about how Karl made cheese. Karl had goats, so he used their milk to make cheese. Maria had cows, and she used their milk to make cheese.

Cows produced a lot more milk than goats, so Maria had more milk to use. One of Maria’s big cows could produce over a hundred pounds of milk a day! That was a lot of milk. Most of Karl’s goats produced less than ten pounds of milk a day.

The cheese that Maria made was very different from Karl’s. Cheese from cow milk tended to be more buttery and meatier in flavor. Cheese from goat milk tended to be slightly tart but very creamy. Maria let Cheddar taste some sheep cheese, which she had bought from another local farmer. The sheep cheese tasted more grassy, nutty, and sweeter than the other cheeses.

For a single food, “cheese” certainly had a lot of flavors. There are so many kinds and varieties of cheese, and Cheddar got to learn about them.

The taste of the cheese depended on the milk it was made from. The milk depended on the animal that produced the milk and what that animal ate. A goat eating one type of food would produce milk very different from a goat producing a completely different type of food.

When Cheddar went to bed that night, he dreamed about cheese. He dreamed about sheep and cows and goats. He dreamed about the plants that flavored the milk. He dreamed about the milk going through the long, tedious process of being made into cheese. He dreamed of the delicious cheese that resulted from all that work. Cheese…

Daily Routines

Every morning Cheddar got up with Karl. Sometimes he woke Karl up. Sometimes Karl’s alarm clock woke them both up. However he woke up, he woke up happy. For Cheddar, every day brought some kind of excitement.

As much as Karl liked to read, Cheddar liked to watch the bees wiggle and dance. He had been trying to wiggle in the same way, but he couldn’t quite get the knack for it.

Karl had Maria as a friend, and she visited every few days. Cheddar had a friend, too. He and Gretchen had become good friends, and they got to see each other every day. Sometimes he would visit with Fidget, too, when Fidget wasn’t playing goat games with the other kids. Cheddar felt sorry for Karl since he couldn’t visit Maria every day.

Cheddar continued to learn about cheese and how Karl and Maria made cheese. He would follow Karl as Karl worked on the farm and worked with the goats. Sometimes Karl would go over to Maria’s farm to help her, and Cheddar would go, too. Sometimes Maria came here to help Karl, and Cheddar loved following them around, learning more and more about the delicious cheese. He even talked to Gretchen about cheese. Even though her part in making cheese tended to end when she had been milked, she was very knowledgeable about the process. She had watched Karl work for years, and the information she had absorbed just by watching allowed her to talk with Cheddar about cheese.

Cheddar even was learning more about Karl’s vegetable garden. He learned that arugula had a peppery taste to it and that Karl liked to eat it with pears and walnuts. He learned that mustard greens made him sneeze and that Karl liked to cook them with vinegar. “Cooking” was something Cheddar hadn’t quite wrapped his head around, but he paid attention to Karl “cooking” every night so that he might understand it better. It seemed like magic to Cheddar.

Cheddar’s favorite part of the day was in the evenings. After a long day of hard working helping Karl, Cheddar and Karl would sit on the couch together. Karl would often read a book. Cheddar would put his head on Karl’s lap, and Karl would pet him. He liked it when Karl rubbed between his ears and down his neck. It was so nice after such a long day! After a while, Karl would put down his book, and they would go upstairs to bed.

This was Cheddar’s routine now that he lived with Karl. He liked living with Karl. He liked being on the farm. He liked Karl, the bees, the goats, the vegetables, and all the smells that came with living here. Cheddar was very happy to think of this as home.

A Wonderful Idea Involving Bees

One day, Cheddar had a great idea. Before the idea could leave his head, he ran to Gretchen. He needed to talk with her as soon as possible. She could help with this wonderful idea!

Gretchen thought it was a very good idea, though she wasn’t quite sure about some of the details. Cheddar and Gretchen needed the bees’ help. Since Gretchen wasn’t supposed to leave the safety of the pasture, Cheddar went alone to talk to the bees.

Cheddar stood in front of the beehives. He wasn’t quite sure how to talk to the bees. He didn’t think he’d be able to communicate his plan by wiggling. He wasn’t sure what else to do, though. They didn’t seem to understand him when he had tried talking to them before.

Cheddar started wiggling.

The bees moved vertically, up and down the side of the hive to communicate direction. Cheddar certainly couldn’t do that. He tried to adapt the wiggling dance to what he could do. He wiggled and walked on the ground, angling his wiggling so that it pointed the direction of the pasture and Gretchen.

After wiggling a straight line to show the direction, he started to form a figure eight with his dance. A figure eight pattern for the bees indicated distance. The larger the figure eight, the farther away the food was. A circle instead of a figure eight meant that the food was very, very close to the hive. The pasture wasn’t so close as to use a circle, so Cheddar formed a figure eight.

This was very complicated, Cheddar thought. He wasn’t sure how much a dog like him needed to wiggle and how big his figure eight should be. The bees were much smaller and so had smaller dances. They didn’t dance in as big an area as he was dancing. He really hoped this worked.

The bees had stopped to watch Cheddar. This was something new, for a dog to be wiggling like they did. They weren’t sure what he meant by it, so they watched.

Cheddar finished his figure eight and looked at the hive. It was very eerie to see a hive of bees paused in their work and watching him. He felt very nervous now. He was embarrassed and unsure of what to do. He thought about running away now, but just then, the queen bee emerged from the hive.

“Puppy,” she said, “why are you doing the wiggle dance?” She was very curious about this puppy. When Cheddar had started doing his dance, a worker bee had rushed to tell the queen about this strange thing. She was the only one in the hive who might be able to talk with this funny puppy, so she had carefully and slowly moved from the safety of the inner hive. This was not something that a queen did lightly. She was very vulnerable to danger out here in the open.

Cheddar was surprised to see the queen. What an honor, he thought. He tried to bow to her, lowering his head and upper body to his front paws.

The queen smiled and laughed. She liked this puppy. He was very polite.

“That’s not necessary,” she said. “Perhaps you can tell me why you’re dancing, puppy. I should return to the inner hive soon. We bees cannot stop our work for very long.”

Cheddar introduced himself to the queen, and he told the queen his plan. The bees were happy to help Cheddar.

The rest of the day, Cheddar made arrangements so that everything was in place to start the plan tomorrow. He wanted the plan to succeed, so Cheddar had to make sure that everything was in place. Such big ideas need a lot of preparation and thought. With such a great idea, Cheddar would feel very bad if he never followed through on the plan or if he didn’t do his best to try to make it work. He knew that the plan may not work, but he was going to try his best! He wanted it succeed not for his own happiness, but for Karl’s. If the plan worked, Karl would be happy, and that would make Cheddar happy.

Cheddar Works Hard

Cheddar’s plan did need some adjustments when it was put into action. Rather than become disheartened, Cheddar though of them as learning opportunities and tried to solve the problems. He solved them very well, and his plan went forward thanks to his careful thinking.

Cheddar had asked the bees to help him make honey only from certain plants. At first, he had asked the bees to make the honey he needed in a certain part of their hive. That honey had mixed with honey in nearby areas of the hive, though, and it had taken on some of the taste of those honeys. That wasn’t what Cheddar wanted. So he had asked if the bees could instead make his honey in a small, new hive that was entirely separate from their main hive. Cheddar had found a small starter hive in Karl’s shed and brought it over to the bees. He placed it gently near the main hive so that it would be close to their main hive and not be a terrible trouble for them to get to or make them feel cut off from their main home. That was how he solved his first problem.

The second problem was solved at the same time as the first problem. Cheddar hadn’t been sure how he would get the honey the bees made for him to Gretchen. Gretchen needed to eat the honey. Since Gretchen couldn’t leave the pasture, and the bees made the honey over here, Cheddar needed to carry the honey from the bees to Gretchen. When Cheddar found the small hive in Karl’s shed, he had also found a small red wagon. Cheddar put the hive on the wagon. He grabbed the wagon handle in his mouth and moved the wagon that way. Every day he dragged the wagon with its honey to Gretchen, and after she had had some honey, he dragged it back beside the main hive.

The third problem Cheddar encountered was with Gretchen’s food. She grazed on anything and everything. That wasn’t very good for what Cheddar wanted. Cheddar went to Karl’s shed for inspiration. He found a basket whose handle could grasp with his mouth. This was the first piece of the solution. He took the basket to Karl’s garden and selected plants that he wanted Gretchen to eat. He carefully put his little harvest in the basket and carried it to Gretchen.

All of this carrying and dragging back and forth was hard work, but Cheddar worked hard every day so that his plan would turn out like he wanted. He wanted to surprise Karl with something marvelous!

Cheddar Gets Sick and Friends Help

One day, Cheddar woke up not feeling well. His head hurt, and it seemed to take so much energy just to move. As he waited for Karl to get his breakfast together, he sneezed, and that only made his head hurt more.

Karl knew something was wrong. Cheddar wasn’t acting like he normally did. He petted the puppy’s head. “Cheddar,” he said, “if you aren’t feeling well, you can go back to bed. When I’m sick, that’s often the best thing to do. You might feel a lot better in the morning.” Cheddar looked at him and considered this. Going back to bed did sound good, but he needed to keep going so that his plan wouldn’t fall through.

Cheddar tried to go about his routine like normal. He picked the same plants for Gretchen that he had yesterday. Even his smell was off. Cheddar couldn’t smell normally, and this bothered him a lot! His sense of smell told him so much about the world. It was like being losing his hearing. He did not like being sick one bit.

When Cheddar brought the plants to Gretchen, she took one look at him and yelled for Fidget to come here right now. Fidget came running.

“Fidget,” Gretchen said, “Cheddar is under the weather. I need you to help.” Cheddar looked up at the clouds in the sky. Wasn’t he always under the weather since they the clouds were up there?

Fidget giggled. “She means you’re sick, silly,” he said.

“Oh,” Cheddar said. “Yes, I feel very bad today. I don’t want the plan to fail, though, so I need to just work through this.”

“No,” Gretchen said. “If you just ‘work through this,’ you’re going to get worse, not better. Your body needs some time to heal itself, so you need to go back to bed. Fidget is very good about getting in and out of the pasture. That’s gotten him into trouble in the past,” she said, giving Fidget a knowing look. He grinned. Gretchen continued. “This time his being able to get in and out will come in handy. He can bring me the plants you want me to eat. He can do that until you get well, whether that’s just today or for many days.” Fidget didn’t look thrilled at being given a chore, but he knew that this plan meant a lot to his mom and Cheddar. He also wanted to help Cheddar if he could. Cheddar was a good friend to have around and looked out for the farm and the animals on it. A good friend was worth keeping and helping whenever possible.

In order to show Fidget what needed to be done, Cheddar took Fidget to the garden and showed him which plants to take to Gretchen. Then Cheddar went to the bees’ area and showed him what needed to be done there. At this point, Cheddar was very tired. Fidget assured Cheddar that he knew what he needed to do, and, yes, if he had any questions, he would come ask Cheddar. Assured that Fidget and Gretchen would be able to take care of things, Cheddar lay down in a very nice area of grass near the hives. It was in the sun and nicely warm. The steady buzz buzz buzz of the bees let him slip into a deep nap. He slept and slept and slept.

So Fidget took over Cheddar’s chores for a couple days while Cheddar got over his cold. After a couple days, Cheddar felt much better and relieved Fidget of his duties. With Fidget’s help, Cheddar’s plan had continued and Cheddar had been able to rest and recover from his cold much more quickly than if he’d tried to keep working while he was sick. Though Fidget often acted silly in the pasture with the other kids, he had been reliable when Cheddar needed him most. Cheddar was very thankful for Fidget’s generosity and friendship, and that only made him more determined to follow through with his plan.

Final Steps of a Plan

After weeks of having Gretchen eat the plants Cheddar selected and the honey that the bees made for her, the next part of Cheddar’s plan went into action.

Cheddar and Gretchen went into the milking shed. Gretchen knew more about how these things worked than Cheddar did, even though he’d watched Karl milk the goats many times. So Cheddar let Gretchen tell him what he needed to do so that she could be milked.

It took awhile for everything to be worked out. Cheddar’s paws were not as agile as Karl’s human hands, but Gretchen was patient as he tried to do what she was asking him to.

The final product was completely worth the trouble. The milk Gretchen produced was sweet and delicious. The honey from the bees had made it so sweet. The plants Cheddar had picked out had been just the right diet for Gretchen and had produced milk that was smooth and so, so tempting to a puppy nose. It smelled so good that Cheddar wanted to drink it, but if he drank it all right then, he wouldn’t be able to make the cheese he wanted.

This was the first milking. Cheddar put some of the milk into the refrigerator that Karl kept for storing the goat’s milk. A bit of the milk Cheddar left unrefrigerated. This bit of milk would stay out for about a day and would sour. While that make it very bad to drink, it would be very good for starting the process of making cheese.

The next day, Cheddar milked Gretchen again, getting more of the delicious milk. He warmed up the milk he had refrigerated yesterday. It couldn’t be cool when he started making cheese.

Cheddar thought through the steps of making cheese. He began Step One: Setting the Milk. He combined yesterday’s milk and today’s milk. Then the soured milk was added. The unrefrigerated milk had become sour because bacteria had grown a lot overnight. The bacteria would begin the process of turning the milk into cheese.

Step Two: Cutting the Curds. The bacteria helped the milk become thicker, forming little mounds called curds. The milk started to look like cottage cheese. In this step of making cheese, Cheddar had to make sure that the curds were forming correctly. Large curds needed to be cut so that they formed small cubes.

Step Three: Adding Heat. Cheddar kept the cheese warm for a bit. It was like watching Karl scramble eggs on the stove. Karl had to turn the stove on before the eggs would start to scramble and be cooked. Similar to that, Cheddar had to add a bit of heat to the milk and curds for the cheese to cook. He stirred the mixture and watched as it became less liquid and more solid.

After it had cooked a while, Cheddar began Step Four: Draining. He poured the mixture through a basket lined with cloth. The yellowish liquid ran through the basket. The curds that were caught by the cloth were what Cheddar needed. He put the curds into a container to hold them. They would stay in the container until the cheese was ready.

The next Step was Waiting. In this step, Cheddar had to just wait as the curds fused together. As Cheddar watched the curds, he thought about how similar this was to watching bubbles. He had seen Karl create bubbles when he washed the dishes or when he took a bubble bath. The bubbles would be so high, but they would slowly begin to pop and seem to melt into the water. Watching the curds was like watching those bubbles. The curds needed to melt together until they were smooth like the surface of water.

In Step Six, Cheddar applied pressure to the cheese. This helped move moisture out of the cheese that he didn’t want in it. Without any pressure, the cheese might have a lot of moisture and be soft and spreadable. With a lot of pressure, the cheese might be very hard and almost crumble when it was cut for eating. Cheddar didn’t apply a lot of pressure. He only needed a little pressure, so he put a small plate on top of the cheese. The cheese stayed like this for a few days. Cheddar was very impatient to have Step Six finished, but he knew that rushing the cheese would only make it turn out badly. He wanted it to turn out well, so he tried very hard to be patient.

When Cheddar decided that Step Six was finished, he moved on to Step Seven: The Great Bath. He was very glad that he wasn’t the one getting a bath. He tolerated Karl giving him a bath once in a while, but he didn’t enjoy it. Giving the cheese a bath meant dunking it in salty water. If Cheddar soaked the cheese in the salty water for several days, it could make the cheese harder. The salt water removed moisture from the cheese. When a bit of the water splashed into Cheddar’s eyes, it stung and removed moisture from his eyes, making his eyes produce tears. Cheddar didn’t think that was particularly pleasant either.

In the Finishing Step, the final step of making the cheese, Cheddar poked the cheese and made sure that it was what he wanted. He smelled it to make sure that it smelled just right. Then he wrapped the cheese in a bit of cloth so that he could take it to Karl. This would be the best step, he thought. That would be the step of Sharing, which was the whole point of making cheese. He hoped it made Karl happy.

What Cheddar, the Bees, and Gretchen Made

Karl was talking to Maria in the kitchen. Karl was a little worried about Cheddar. Cheddar had been more absent from Karl’s side than normal. Usually he followed Karl around most of the day. Cheddar had seemed so tired at night, too. Karl hoped everything was okay. Cheddar seemed happy, but that didn’t stop Karl from being concerned. Maria reassured him that Cheddar was a puppy and still new to the farm. He was probably just exploring and getting used to things. Maria was a very good listener, and Karl appreciated that.

Karl felt a bump on his leg. He turned and looked down. Cheddar was carrying something in his mouth. Karl was very surprised. He knelt down, and Cheddar set down the cloth bundle. He nudged it with his nose towards Karl.

This was very odd, thought Karl. He reached for the bundle and opened it. There was a small round portion of cheese. “Oh!” Karl exclaimed. This wasn’t one of the cheese rounds that he had made. He suddenly realized why Cheddar had been disappearing recently. He must have been making this cheese!

“That’s so nice!” exclaimed Maria, peering into the bundle at the cheese. “Karl, you have to try some!”

Karl wasn’t quite sure what to do. Clearly, Cheddar had brought him this cheese for a reason, but… a puppy… making cheese… Karl wasn’t sure how that would taste. Even his own first attempt at making cheese hadn’t turned out very well.

“Thank you for bringing the cheese, Cheddar,” Karl said, smiling and petting Cheddar’s head. Cheddar hadn’t come for Karl to look at the cheese, though. He wanted Karl to taste it. He looked at the cheese. He looked at Karl. He nudged the cheese with his nose again. He needed to make Karl understand that he should taste it.

Karl got the point and stopped trying to postpone tasting the cheese. He didn’t want to hurt Cheddar’s feelings if the cheese hadn’t turned out well. Karl got a knife from a drawer while Maria got a small plate and some crackers from the cupboard. Everything was arranged on the kitchen table. Cheddar stood on his hind legs and put his paws on the table so that he could watch.

Karl carefully cut into the cheese. It seems to have a very good texture, thought Karl. He cut just enough cheese for a small taste for him and for Maria. First they would taste the cheese by itself. Then they would taste it on a cracker.

Karl put the cheese into his mouth and closed his eyes, focusing on the flavor of the cheese. It was like having a story unfold in his mouth except in reverse. Instead of starting at the beginning of the story, Karl tasted the end first. : He tasted Gretchen’s milk. Then, he tasted the vegetables from his garden and the honey that had contributed to Gretchen’s milk. He tasted the pollen that the bees had gathered from plants that Cheddar had specifically picked out for making the honey. He tasted the farm.

Tears started to form underneath Karl’s closed eyes. He opened his eyes. Maria was smiling at him. Karl looked down at Cheddar, who was looking up at him expectantly. Karl knelt down and hugged the little puppy.

“You do like it here, don’t you?” Karl asked Cheddar. Cheddar licked Karl’s face and wagged his tail. Karl hugged Cheddar tightly to him. He was so happy. Cheddar was very relieved to know that these were tears of joy, not tears of sadness or unhappiness with the cheese.

Karl’s chest felt very full. Cheddar would never have made that cheese if he wasn’t weren’t happy here. He would never have made it if he didn’t like Karl and the farm. Karl was so happy to have a happy companion, a companion who understood the farm and wanted to be a part of his life. Cheddar had said more clearly than if he had had been able to speak that he loved Karl. This made Karl very, very happy.

“You’re a good companion and friend, Cheddar,” Karl said. “Thank you so much for the gift. You did a wonderful job.”

“Yes,” Maria said. “He’s quite the cheese-making puppy, isn’t he?”

Karl laughed. He had never expected that when he went to get a puppy from the shelter that he would find the one-in-a-million puppy who would be able to make cheese!

“You’re my little fromager, aren’t you, Cheddar?” Karl said, still petting the puppy. Cheddar tilted his head at him. He wasn’t sure what this “fro-ma-zhay” word was. “A fromager,” Karl said, seeing the question in Cheddar’s face, “is a cheese maker, an expert. You have the nose and heart of a cheese maker.”

Cheddar thought about this new word. Fro — ma — zhay. He considered each part of the word and broke it down into how he had made the cheese. “Fro” rhymed with “grow.” The plants that had grown in the garden had been the first part of making the cheese. Then the “ma,” Gretchen, had produced milk that was flavored with the plants from the garden. “Zhay” rhymed with “weigh,” which reminded Cheddar of how he’d had to feel the cheese, poke it, and weigh it until he was sure that it was just right. This new word was now firmly in his head. He liked it, though he thought it sounded very difficult to say.

“I think,” Karl said, looking at Cheddar taking all of this in, “that you should be involved in the cheese making from now on.” Cheddar smiled. Yes, he liked cheese! Cheddar was so happy! He had succeeded with his plan. He had put some of his favorite flavors and smells of the farm into the cheese and shared it with Karl and Maria.

In the middle of the kitchen, Cheddar started doing a wiggle dance like the bees. Instead of pointing direction to anything, he wiggled in celebration.

Karl and Maria watched the funny puppy wiggling. Karl laughed. Cheddar was a smart, sweet puppy. Karl was so glad that he had found such a good friend.