Writing a Short Short Short - Journal Assignment - Practice writing good clean prose

Odg
Jack knew it was the dog for him as soon as he saw it at the pound. Its breed on the card read “mutt”. The dog barked a lot, but that was all right; there was no one at home but Jack. He paid the fee and put the dog in the car. “I think I’ll call you Odg; dog is too plain and god is just wrong.” Odg just looked down at the floor and barked. When they got home, Odg ran right up to the front door of Jack’s house, as if he knew this was where he should be. The man let him in the house and Odg sniffed each room. The man put out some food for the dog and Odg ate it fast. “Don’t eat so fast, you’ll get sick,” the man said as he pulled the bowl from his new pet.
At ten that night, there was a knock on the door. Jack thought it might be his friend Rich, but it turned out to be a man with a gun.
“What do you want,” Jack yelled.
“Shut up”, the man said as he pushed Jack back in the house.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Jack begged. The man did not say a word but put the end of the gun right in Jack’s face.
Odg then jumped on the man with the gun. He bit the man on both his arms and his face. By the time Odg pulled back, the man had much blood on him and did not move.
Jack cried, “Oh, thank you Odg. If it weren’t for you I would be dead. I guess I should call you god, since you saved my life; it’s a mir…” He did not get the rest of the word out as the man with the gun blew Jack’s head off.

Instructor Feedback
Control is the key factor in this exercise (some of your past tense verbs have more than one syllable).Poetry is equally about the words, their sounds, and the message and/or situation you are trying to create/convey. This exercise forces you to test and weigh the possibilities of each and every word. That is why I write. Every word is a masterpiece, and I love to tinker and labor with combinations of words until I create perfect sounds that also perfectly represent my thoughts--or as close to perfect as humanly possible:)