Hello everybody:
Why I have not updated this time, I don¡¦t know, I guess I just did not feel like it. But I certainly have several things to tell you. Let¡¦s start with yesterday¡¦s events.

Yesterday all of a sudden Chris and the Shadow started to rush and hurry, and before I knew it I was left alone tied to the handrail of the lower staircase. Fortunately mom was there, and the grandfather Ajax was attached to my regular place. When it started raining mom, who took care of me, took me to the outside shelter near the basement door, soon I got bored and thought of ways to get rid of this leash. I discovered that if I chewed it long enough it got thinner and weaker. And soon I was off and running towards Theresa¡¦s place. However, as always when I am having fun, mom caught up with me and took me back to the house, where she attached me to the iron chain; and you can do whatever you want, there¡¦s no way to chew or bite it. The rain had stopped by that time, and Ajax was back on his running leash.

When Chris and Shadow finally were back, they immediately took me on the regular walk. And on the way back they played so nicely with me. Chris was standing on one end of the road, and the Shadow on the other, and they called me and I ran back and forth between them. Shadow even ran and played with me and chased me. And he even recognized that my barks were friendly and playful. I really love it when he plays with me, it¡¦s always great fun.

This morning then we went to the city, but this time without backpack. We spent most of the time in the train station, and before I knew what had happened, we were one more person. I have not yet figured out whose friend she is. If I judge by her English and German speaking, I could say she is German and thus a friend of Chris¡¦, but am not 100% certain. This afternoon we went for a longer walk along a street, and on that walk Shadow and the new person walked behind Chris and me. Isn¡¦t Chris supposed to walk with the Shadow? What¡¦s going on there? We¡¦ll find that out for sure!!!

Last night they stayed in the living room for quite a while, even Chris stayed awake. I saw them tearing apart some little handy cards, and they said it contained addresses and whatever. Chris¡¦ card also holds a flag of some EU, or whatever union, and Shadow had made himself a card with something Persian. Don¡¦t ask me, it¡¦s enough I know a little English and all the German I need to spy, don¡¦t you think?
See you soon with more news from Shadow and this other girl, Yours, Hapooļ

Hi folks and friends:
How are you tonight? I am all right, spending most of my day by the heater, which is turned off most of the time. Chris does not feel like walking me, because it is rather windy outside. Or me it¡¦s the same, I can smell and run in any weather. But honestly, I am looking forward to the snow, in which it is really great fun tossing on my back, running and jumping. Chris always shakes her head in disbelief, she does not like snow. When the roads are covered with snow, I really have to guide her. Even her feet are blind then, as she puts it.

I am writing because I have to praise the Shadow again. Last night he was awake alone, Chris had been too tired to wait for him. Suddenly outside there started a quite terrible thunder storm, and a lot of rain was driven down from the sky by the fierce storm. Ajax, the outside dog, had been taken inside to spend the night safely and well-protected in our corridor. He is so afraid of loud bangs that the Shadow petted him for quite a while, so he could calm down and relax and go back to sleep.
You have to be aware that Shadows like the one that follows Chris don¡¦t like dogs too much, especially when they are living inside, like me. Shadow did not need to care for me, because I did not mind the thunder. However, he also checked on Chris. I don¡¦t understand this, but apparently she is also afraid of thunder storms. Come on Chris, I am just a tiny dog, so you should not be such a scared cat!
When it is windy, Chris does not let me off the leash, because she would not hear me well enough despite the bell I am wearing all the time. So whenever Shadow accompanies us, I can run free, because he has an eye on me. I really like the Shadow; he is so nice when one needs him, even to dogs! Have a nice Shadow like this yourselves and your life will be twice as beautiful as it was before, Yours, proud and happy, Hapooļ

Hi everybody:
I just wanted to tell you that it is raining here, what a horrible day!
And secondly - thank you so much for all the reading! Chris just told me that yesterday was the busiest day on the website. How come? Is it this other Chris' fault? I should really get a promotion award, which other dog would???
I love all people who pet me, and therefore you are all invited, a big happy Cheers and wonderful Sunday to all, Yours, jumping up and doown and barking, Hapoo:-)))

Hello everybody:
Sorry sorry sorry I did not write for such a long time, but where there¡¦s delay there¡¦s a reason...
First of all, Chris thought it was appropriate to put me outside for a while, mostly half a day, and most of the time she either left to buy stuff, or she cleaned her apartment. However, the nights were the adventurous times of the day.

One night Chris fed me and said goodnight, and Khodadad and her disappeared in the bedroom. I don¡¦t know why, but just when I had made myself comfortable on the couch, Khodadad came back to do something. He said something, but I did not care, I stayed on the couch. After all, he is not my authority! However, just then I heard Chris getting out of her bed, and I knew I¡¦d better get down from my throne. She did still punish me and made it clear that the couch is nothing for me. She even put things on it, so lying there would not be comfortable for me. Too bad, just when I have found something nice, Chris comes up with reasons why I should not do this again, and the worst thing is that she takes effective action.

And then the next night they left me alone in the basement, where I discovered a box with remaining shopping items. I discovered sugar and flower, which are not interesting for me, but my nose also smelled delicious meat. I found it and opened the plastic and had a feast. But again in the middle of my meal Chris and the Shadow arrived, and I knew
Something was wrong. The Shadow shouted at me, but Chris was too quiet and almost ignored me, which was far worse. She removed the remaining meat, and the two left immediately after they had put me on my mat. I don¡¦t exactly know what they were doing outside at this late time of day, or shall I say night¡K

Today they again left me behind, and mom took great care of me. They returned with a big box, but I have not figured out what is in it. However, twice today I had an encounter with this other Chris, this singing one. I have a question:
Why do people have the same name, when they have not even met?
Besides this, the far away Chris with the addition of De Burgh appears to be a professional singer my Chris admires, but I don¡¦t think they have ever really met or ¡V as I have earlier mentioned ¡V had a cup of tea together. Still my Chris listens to his voice through the radio, and this morning even on her PC (something like ME version of a Lebanese night ¡V what night is that), and in the afternoon the Shadow and Chris had him displayed on TV. This guy ¡V for he is of the male sex most certainly ¡V is a mystery to me in all the different ways he appears to me. The more frequent one is being mentioned in talks between Chris and the Shadow. What is there to talk about someone who sings? I mean Chris sings and whistles a lot, and even the Shadow sings¡K¡K

Let¡¦s not wear out our brains too much, I need to save my energy for the next meal, which means a lot of sleep , see you very soon again, Yours, wondering eternally, Hapooƒº

Hi friends:
Have I told you that shadows are something nice to have around? They are like grandmothers to you humans, spoiling you every now and then and giving you a nice treat of your favourite food occasionally. This morning the Shadow gave me some breakfast meat that in his opinion had gone bad, so I could have it. I don¡¦t see why it would have gone bad; to me it tasted like paradise.

However, Chris and Shadow are talking about him leaving very often, I am just afraid he is leaving soon. Poor Chris, she is going to be sad when she has to be all alone again. And the fact that I am there would not help her much, I know this from previous experience.

Yesterday we were in the city again, and they bought a microphone and an antenna. Now don¡¦t expect me to know what exactly this is about. I have just noticed that the microphone thing is standing by the keyboard on her desk, and the antenna has found a spot near the window, close to TV and radio. And this morning Chris lay on the couch watching a bit TV. Wow, I have only seen TV at moms, I guess the antenna has something to do with this positive development, and the fact that the Shadow has played around with the TV for quite some time yesterday.

See, I told you what shadows are good for. I wish you have one too and hope you have a nice, not too rainy day, Yours, Hapooļ

Hello once again:
Sorry I did not manage to write yesterday, but Chris¡¦ computer was always busy, or we were out. However, here is a question you might find interesting:
Have you ever volunteered to play with disaster?
Apparently, humans are very fond of it. Two days ago Chris left me alone outside, attached to a tree near her entrance. When Theresa, the little girl, came to pick me up, she took me to the garden. I have not been there too often, so whenever I go there it is exciting to smell everything, especially the fresh earth. This time, o horror, I saw two fires. My love for Chris was stronger, but if I had been in free nature, I would have run away. Two fires at once, the Shadow guarding one, mom the other, and Chris keeping the Shadow company. They were frying sausages in the fire, and I got the ones that had fallen on the ground. That was nice, but I really don¡¦t understand why they light a fire and let it burn in their own garden! And later they just left and did not worry about the fire. Since I have not smelled any intense fire, I think nothing has happened in the garden.

Yesterday we went to the city again. When we took the street car, it was so packed that we hardly fit in. Finally this crafty Shadow found a spot for him and Chris to sit, which provided more space for me. There was also a man sitting there, who eventually made everybody leave the car for us to get out. He left too, but the Shadow later saw him waiting on the other side of the street to continue where he was going. See, there are really nice people out in the world, I mean other than Chris, the Shadow and mom. And Theresa, of course.

This morning Chris has left me in the basement all the time, and when I was finally permitted to go to the living room, I smelled cookies and delicious lunch. And coffee, of course. I just don¡¦t get it, why don¡¦t they ever let me share their meals?

Anyway, I should not complain, I have a quite nice life, I am working occasionally, Chris sometimes gets mad at me, but she never treats me really bad. So I am leaving the rest of this Sunday to you and wish you a happy new week, Yours, waiting for the rain to stop, Chrisļ

Hi everybody, hi to my loyal and regular readers:
I have to start off with some bad news: I was really sick last night. I am not going to spoil Chris¡¦ joy of speculating, so I am not going to tell you what the matter with me was really. Chris suspected a major stomach upset; Khodadad thought I had possibly caught cold. Chris then took me outside in the rain to eat grass, and that is what I really did. I had so much fun eating the grass, which gave me some pleasure. Chris was really nice, she took me outside although it was already late, and even after the film they had watched. I really needed a good portion of grass!

Chris is such a nice person, because not only was I sick, but also Khodadad. So the poor girl was worried and had to run back and forth between both of us. She could not do much about me, so after she had taken me out for grass the second time, she just left me alone after she had also forced me to drink water.

Generally, we went to the city yesterday, and Chris and the Shadow had great fun exploring another district. They found a tea pot in replacement for the one Chris had broken the other day, and they found some Chris de Burgh records, that really excited Chris. They were not that expensive, so Chris bought four of them. She is really crazy, don¡¦t you think? Especially when it comes to vinyl ones, what use will they be anyway?

Today they left me alone with mom again, I guess from how Chris smelled when they returned, they went to the city and had a good time without me. They returned with a new sweater, I don¡¦t know how big it is, they have not unpacked it yet in front of my eyes, so I can¡¦t tell who it would be for. However, I am feeling much better now, I had a good bit of water when Chris let me go back inside, and of course I am happy she is back. The Shadow has gone and talked to his mom, something he has not done for quite a while, the poor guy. I guess he is homesick and looking forward to going home to his mom. I don¡¦t want to think about this, for Chris would be sad and depressed for quite some time. Anyway, as long as I get my food I am okay. Chris has already announced that I won¡¦t be getting any food tonight, to calm my stomach down. So that is again all my news, I hope you are looking forward to another update from my four paws, Yours, ready to sleep and relax, Hapooƒº

Good afternoon friends:
Have I told you that the life of a dog can sometimes be boring? Currently I am not doing much. Yesterday Theresa was here, after a long time. I had only seen her occasionally, when she had opened her window and greeted Chris on her way to walk me, but Theresa had not been here for quite some time. So yesterday in the morning the two talked again and finally in the afternoon Theresa came over.
You are wondering who Theresa is? She is a ten-year-old girl from the neighbourhood. She was in fact the first person out of Chris¡¦ village I ever met. She picked us up at the local train station when Chris took me home for the first time after the first week of training. Since then Theresa has always visited or accompanied us on longer walks through the village. She likes playing with my ears, and she was the first person other than Chris who could put the signal jacket on me without me running away. So yesterday she was finally here again.

Khodadad was working, and for quite a while Theresa was busy petting me. Then Chris kept me busy playing with my chewing bone with me. She always throws it out in the corridor for me to take it back and so on and so on. And then I can chew on it and see how much I manage to take off the bone for this session. While I was doing that the two girls made necklaces out of paper clips. And when that got too boring, Theresa got the idea of messing around with my collar. First they put it on each other¡¦s necks, and then they made it as long as possible in order to use it as a belt. I was a little distracted, for I did not understand what my bell had to do on them. And then they tied their legs together, and finally Chris jumped around both her legs tied together. Heaven, will this girl never grow up?

And when we wanted to go on our afternoon walk, Theresa said it was too cold, so she did not join. Chris and the Shadow spent the entire walk talking about things I have no clue of, probably history or such things. History in my opinion is the talk of people long deceased, and I don¡¦t understand why it¡¦s worth talking about them, when you can¡¦t even dig out their bones for a nice meal anymore! Don¡¦t be disgusted, that¡¦s how wolves do it, and ask mom, she always is mad at Ajax for digging holes in her flower beds.

Today, for an odd reason, the Shadow stays in bed most of the time. I think it has to do with his awful headache. Chris and mom did some paper work in the morning, and now she is just sitting and doing nothing. Fortunately for her, it is not as cold now as it was two days ago, so she can enjoy her walks with me a little more. That¡¦s all I can do to entertain you for now, they have not gone out to the city with me, and I guess I have behaved well enough, so I will go back to sleep and wake up for more food in the evening, Yours, ever hungry, Hapooƒº

Hello all you busy readers:
Have I told you that I have at least received one feedback from a Butterfly? And what about the other quiet beings out in space? Well well, anonymous writing is nice, as well.

Chris is still a little sick, and the Shadow is watching a movie about Romans and Asterix or something similar, I don¡¦t get it. Yesterday the Shadow set up Chris¡¦ TV and her VCR, so they watched a Chris de Burgh video. So that is the music Chris listens to most of the time! And I finally saw that guy. If she likes him so much, why does he never visit and stay for a cup of tea??? People are strange, they never do what you think they should do.

Have you seen the picture(s)? The Hapoo looks just like me, Khodadad, the man with the hard to pronounce name, the one I call the Shadow, has found it on the internet. What a nice Shadow, I really like him quite a bit! And after he had set up VCR and TV, they spent their evening watching another movie, so I got my food late again. But that¡¦s all right.

Yesterday mom took me and Ajax, the grandfather outside, for a walk, and when we were back I had to realize that Chris had gone, she had taken the Shadow and moms car with her. So mom gave me a treat, and one for Dicker, of course, and left the bag on the stairs. So when she did not look, I got myself more, they were really delicious. But one thing I really don¡¦t understand is why Chris always leaves out of the blue and comes back too late!

When she was back I was really happy, I jumped up on her and barked and cried, until Chris took me inside. Then she and the Shadow unpacked the grocery and slept a little.

Chris has bought herself a coffee grinder. I don¡¦t know why they drink coffee, it smells rather bad, and I am sure it does not taste good, even when it is cold. And with tea it is the same. I think Chris drinks more coffee, and the Shadow prefers tea. But recently Chris has had a lot of tea, the Samovar is constantly working. Chris is still coughing, but I think it is not so bad, because the Shadow takes great care of her. And me, of course, I protect her and bark at anybody who enters without Chris having told him to, and I always run after her, when she wants to leave. Only when she tells me very seriously to stay where she puts me, I cannot do anything, I have to stay. Let¡¦s hope she is not going to do that too often and enjoy our weekend, Yours, waving her tale happily, Hapooƒº

Hi friends:
Have you seen a day of misfortunate happenings? I have, and I am going to tell you about it.
Remember last night, when the Shadow prevented a major burning, but the tea pot broke?

Well, yesterday the day started pretty well. Chris bought herself her first DVD, which in her opinion turned out to be a bad choice, Something about a guy called Powers and a lady Shagwell. Anybody ever heard such strange names? However, when they came home, the Shadow, also known as Khodadad, wanted to play with his PC. When he turned it on it failed to start, and after a series of efforts to get it going, there was nothing remaining but to recover the PC. That meant that all his files were deleted. That was when I first saw the Shadow cry, it was too sad!

Anyway, he soon had his PC working, and it was ChrisÂ’ turn to prepare dinner. The Shadow did not like what she had made, because it apparently reminded him of a food they would always get in Iran when they were sick. To make up for it, Chris suggested a good cup of coffee. They took out the coffee grinder, but before that could even start working, it found itself on the floor in many little pieces. Its final destination was the trash can, and the coffee beans followed. Poor Chris and Shadow, so many bad things happening to them in one day! But they did not seem to be too sad, they watched their movie and decided to try and return the DVD today and get a better one.

Today we were in the city again. Chris must have felt very sick in the morning, for the Shadow took me for a walk. I was nice all last night, because I did not go into the kitchen, though they had left the door open. Later today we ran to the train station and did several things in the city, but we did not go to return the DVD. What we did was to buy another coffee grinder and lots of cake. And I think now I have deserved a quiet break. And I really canÂ’t wait to have food!!!

Another good morning to my fans and friends:
How are you today? Any comments, questions or suggestions to make? Chris tells me that I do have a little audience, but you are so quiet, what can I do to make this more enjoyable for you?

Since you have not told me anything, I will tell you two things today.
It is one bad news and one good one. Bad news first:
Chris is sick. I think she has caught cold. She drinks loads of hot tea with lemon; I would not really like that. And yesterday we have been to a pharmacy. I don¡¦t like the smell of that at all; it¡¦s like cosmetic stores, nothing for my nose. We have spent a few hours in the city yesterday, but she got tired, and so we returned pretty soon.

Good news next:
The Shadow has rescued her from getting burnt. She has a samovar and a coffee machine. Last night she wanted to push the coffee maker on the counter, but she did not see that she almost made the samovar fall. The Shadow, God bless him forever, held the samovar with its five litres of boiling water, so that only the teapot fell and broke. I don¡¦t want to know what would have happened, if the samovar had fallen!!!

Something I did not like about yesterday is that Chris fed me very late, because she was watching this strange movie. I don¡¦t know why they are always watching movies. It just makes me fall asleep and wait until it¡¦s over. Sometimes she spends an hour in front of the TV, but I don¡¦t know why she needs to watch more people than the ones surrounding her. Or am I getting the movie idea wrong?

From what I gather, here is news; the Shadow has not been accepted to continue his studies at one school, so they talked about him applying to other schools. Cool, so he is staying a little longer with us, at least I hope so. With him life is less boring. And you have to be a little proud of me here: I try to be nice to him, although he does not like me as much as he likes the grandfather Ajax outside. I occasionally manage to lick his hand, which he does not like at all, but it is fun to catch him off guard. But I do try to obey to him as much as seems appropriate to me, and I do try to behave in a way that does not disturb him. At least I watch over the apartment and make a hell of a lot of noise when somebody gets near. He should be grateful, because I protect all that is in the apartment.

That is another section ending with all my views and an empty stomach, cheers and have a great day, Hapooļ

Hello friends:
Sorry I did not write anything yesterday, but here I am again with a very funny story.
Yesterday – or the day before – mom and Chris were busy with the laundry, when I heard the following story:

Chris and Khodadad were sleeping, when Chris heard a strange noise on the ground, a more or less regular tick tick tick.
“Do you hear that”, she asked somewhat scared.
“Yeah.”
“So what is it?”
“I don’t know”, Khodadad replied.
“Then look”, Chris suggested.
Khodadad got up and took a glance around.
“It is a frog”, he then realized with a good amount of disgust. “It is sitting on your clothes! What can we do about it?”
Chris knew that Khodadad could not be counted on when it came to touching the frog, and she herself was not too keen on it either.
“Okay”, she said hesitantly, “let’s put a peace of fabric on the frog, so we can touch it and throw it out of the window.”
They threw something, but Chris failed. She persuaded Khodadad to throw a dust cloth on the frog. She did not want to touch it, but with the cloth around it she managed. Khodadad opened the window, but the frog stuck to the fabric. Chris did not manage to throw it out, but instead the frog was back in the room.

Khodadad was not too fond of repeating this manoeuvre, but he had no choice. Finally Chris managed to throw the frog out on the grass in front of the window. As they wanted to lie down and sleep, they heard a crack and felt they moved down a little bit. That was the bed breaking just a little.

I must explain that we live in a village, and frogs entering the house is nothing unusual. One night they even called mom from upstairs to catch a frog, but they could not catch it, for it had hidden in a dark corner. I don’t know if they have repaired the bed or not, but I can tell you that I don’t like frogs either; they are not delicious at all.

I know, I am not the best writer of all times, but I hope you had at least a little fun reading. Today they want to take me to a library. O heaven, what am I supposed to do there? I can’t read, and the sight of so so many books just makes me dizzy. I wouldn’t go, if it was not for Chris, honestly! I would prefer to run outside. This morning she played with me. We always run around a little. But when I get too excited and playfully bite her jacket, she does not like it. Last year I managed to tear a piece out of one jacket she had recently bought. Since then she is careful that I don’t bite. That’s all for now, I have to run before I work, I have to take Chris to the train station safely, byebye everyone

Finally, finally
Finally what? Finally they have discovered how I am feeling. Actually, I need to be grateful to the Shadow. This afternoon when the three of us went walking, he told Chris that he had discovered something. He was working on his PC at night, Chris was already sleeping, when he noticed that I had changed places. I had left my assigned blanket and gone to the two fluffy animals, a dog and a cat, that are lying behind the door. I had made myself comfortable there. The Shadow told Chris that I might have felt cold on my blanket.

God, sometimes it takes them so long to discover something. I do feel cold there at night, and I am very happy Chris had not managed to throw out these big fluffy animals. Lena, the little girl that is visiting with one of Chris¡¦ sisters, used to play with them last year, but now they are mine only! Have a successful and hopefully sunny day, Yours, proud of the Shadow, Hapooƒº

Hello to all fans of the Barking Blog:
How are you? Last time I have told you that some interesting thing has happened, but I decided to introduce Chris. So let me catch up on that event:

On October 3. It is a national holiday around here, for something I don’t have the foggiest idea about. Anyway, shops were closed and people did not go to work, so we went on a rather spontaneous trip, five people in the front, and me and a food basket in the trunk of mom’s car. Unfortunately, this wise woman – from the humans’ point of view – had wrapped the food so well that I could not reach it unheard. And if Chris had noticed my evil plans, she would have shouted at me. First we went to a forest area, where Chris let me run free, while they were looking at a strange tower, and the little boy sat down to play with his cars. We went on, until we discovered an interesting looking church. The shadow had a lot of fun looking at family trees. I don’t like churches. Chris always keeps me by her side and tries to stop me from announcing benches by putting my front paws on the seats. After a while even mom got interested, so we stayed there for quite a while. Then the others wanted to have ice-cream, so I had to wait until they had finished.

We went on a little, until the men discovered a ruin. Apparently, one was not allowed to enter, so we stayed outside. But beside this site they found a restaurant, and behind it a meadow with a picnic table and benches, very close to a river. Chris made me stay with the shadow. Don’t misunderstand me, mom and the shadow treat me well, but I like Chris more, and whenever she goes somewhere without me, I wonder when she will come back, She came back soon carrying the food basket with mom, and then their lunch started. The day was sunny, but she did not let me off the leash, because there were dogs and people around. She cut herself badly, so a woman they were talking to brought first aid supply, and Chris had to take care of her finger. Then finally we went to Poland.

That was nothing special, only the shadow was stopped for his passport to be checked carefully, and nobody minded me going, although I did not have a passport like Chris. We just went and looked at a market, where they bought a CD, some delicious smelling ham and a new light leash for me. And then they came up with the stupid idea of taking a horse carriage. I jumped up, but as we stated moving I did not like the ride at all. Why can an open platform drawn by horses move? So when Chris finally told me to get off, I slipped out of my collar and ran in the middle of the street. The shadow wanted to catch me, but I did not want to be caught by him. Chris finally stopped me and put the collar back on me, and we walked safely back through the passport checking thing and towards mom. The boy and his father were not allowed to join us for some reason I did not manage to find out, so they were at the sea. Shadow and Chris had ice-cream, and then we drove to the sea.

The sea is another thing I don’t like, but I tell you that story later. We just walked through the sand and then along a peer and finally ended up in a restaurant, where those people had food again. I so much wanted their food, but had I only looked up at the table, Chris would have told me very roughly to put it down. Okay, as long as I am attached to the chairs of Chris, Shadow or mom, I am quite all right. We were back at home very late, and I was glad to get food after a short run with Ajax. I was really tired that night!

Good morning, folks:
I have just checked and need to thank you for reading a dog’s artistic efforts: But you have to give it to me, I am the only dog you know that has a weblog!
Though yesterday was a rather exhausting day, I will finally introduce Chris. As I had said before, this might take more than one session, but here we start:

My owner, Christiane Eggert (this is how she introduces herself formally), was born about 26 human years ago in the East German city of Rostock. She was the youngest of five children her parents had to take care of. I have met three others so far, and a couple of their offspring, they are all quite all right. Of course, Chris is the best of all; I miss her so much when she leaves me…

Chris’ mother found out that she was blind during the first year of her life, and I guess she took the challenge well. Chris stayed in her family until she was five years old, and then went to dormitory school near Berlin. There she met some of her best friends. One I have seen in May, she is afraid of dogs, which was funny. Oh, I also met the other one, she was surrounded by two other dogs, one of which I had a minor fight with. You see, that one, another female, wanted to tell me that she is the leader here, but I did not see why this should be! Just because she knew the surrounding, or what? So she and I decided to see who was stronger, but to my amazement Chris and the other lady did not let us fight it out. Instead they took us upstairs and placed us at the opposite ends of the room. The other dog, however, was okay. She did not bother me, so I equally ignored her.
I remember our appointment with the vet, eh, what a terrible memory! This guy hurt me when he took some of my precious blood! But afterwards they took me and the nicer dog to a meadow, where both of us ran and played.

Anyway, wasn’t I supposed to talk about Chris? You see, dogs are selfish, and it is hard for me to remember all I have spied out during this past year. Chris just talks too much, too much nonsense I mean. She must have graduated from high school successfully, and then, as I gather, she has been to the United States. Then she studied at the other end of Germany, meaning the South, and after that was almost complete, she went and picked me up. I remember she would spend days at her PC, and when that was the case, it was no use asking for pets, she would only touch the keyboard with her fingers.

There are two things I need to mention before I go. I have never met Chris’ father. Aren’t people supposed to have father and mother? Oh, I remember now, once we went to the cemetery, and there they talked about him. Wonder if that has something to do with him. And I also wonder which status the shadow takes in her life. I remember that he was not there when I came, but we always went by train to see him, and Chris was so so so excited! And currently he is staying with us, I guess forever, so Chris is happy. I found out that his name is Khodadad. They constantly speak what they call English. At the training centre nobody has taught me that.

Have I told you the story of my nickname? Apparently, Khodadad has told Chris that three-year-olds call dogs Hapoo in Iran, and she found that nice for me, so she called me Hapoo from the first day she was in charge of me. I like it much more than my original name now. Elsa, she never uses it. Her mother calls me Elsing, the smaller version of Elsa, and one of her sisters would say Liese. But I don’t obey to her anyway. I like the mother, she always talks to me, and when Chris w2ent to this concert by a guy I have never met, Chris de Burgh, mom was in charge of me. But I still always ran back and wanted to find Chris. Since I could not find her, I found Ajax’ food to eat, that was great, too.

Now you know pretty much about Chris, and I think more details will be coming up. Currently this little boy and his daddy are visiting, they also speak English, and I guess daddy is American. See, my life is full of events; I enjoy it for the most part. Hope to hear from you soon, bye-bye, Yours, barking away, Hapoo.

Hi again:
Sorry I am so late, but my owner, this ever-travelling Chris, was away, so I could not use the computer. However, now that she is back, I have a lot of things to catch up on. You will have to wait for the complete introduction of Chris a little longer.

On Sunday evening we went for a wonderful walk, Chris, her shadow with the hard to pronounce name, her sister Suse, my friend Ajax and I. On the way Ajax must have seen a deer, so he ran after it. I did, too, but I waited for him to come back. Chris called, but I did not return. The sight of the excited Ajax was too tempting. When I came back she wanted me to stay by her, but I did not. Suse made sure Ajax obayed, and by the end of my lesson I ad to accept once again that Chris is the leader of the pack, and there is no way around it. I did try, I really tried my best, but she is just stronger, and maybe smarter than me. And on Monday she kept practising commands of subordination with me, but we also played a lot. We went on a short trip to the city, but they did not buy much, they just waited at a certain counter and negotiated. Since there was no money exchange, the result must not have positive.

Yesterday in the morning it was strange. I felt that we were about to leave, but instead Chris took me upstairs to the person she calls mom or mutti. And then I did not see her for a while. Today I saw her, as mom walked Dicker and me, and I ran to greet her. I was so excited Chris and the shadow were back! Later I spied and found out that they had been to a strange concert of a guy called Chris de Burgh, who had even kissed Chris’ hand. Why would that be something exciting I wonder? Chris sometimes asks me to give her my paw, but that’s nothing to get excited about, but maybe the difference is that she never kisses my paw.

Tomorrow, if nothing goes wrong, I will certainly introduce her, that is a promise. Or, if you have any questions, tell me, and I will immediately answer.