MRS. DOG's OWN HOUSE

Mrs. Dog is happy with her plain and simple house until on the successive advice of her friends -- a rooster, a squirrel, a pig, etc. -- she gradually turns it into a mansion by adding a tower, an elaborate staircase, a parlor, a kitchen, and finally an oak-beamed banquet hall in which she gives a magnificent party. But when the butler appears with a tray of rasberries, Mrs. Dog comes to her senses (""Dogs don't eat raspberries""), demolishing all the grand additions before her guests can grab a bite. McCaffery accentuates the ludicrous in Mrs. Dog's flowery extravagance, adding a sort of fiesta flourish to Ms. Calhoun's commonplace object lesson.