a few incidents

Well Chris and I had a lot to do in the past weeks. First and foremost, we
have had loads and loads and loads of snow.

I remember one morning when it first arrived, I guided her to work, and
Chris was so overjoyed. She also taught me to climb the snow hill
surrounding the traffic poles, so I could announce the signal. From then on
the snow had been our steady companion. I don't like the incredibly deep
stuff, but running and sliding and digging in the snow is quite a fun
passtime. I have noticed that Chris has been getting sick of it lately.

One morning I had an encounter with another female, who was off leash. I
starred at her, but her owner did not take her away. She snarled at me, I
slipped out of my collar, and we got into a running competition. When I was
finished, Chris called and I came back to her. The other lady was a little
more challenged with this situation. Chris examined me carefully, my collar
was adjusted, I took a second to catch my breath, and we headded on to work.

The next day we were on our usual dog walk, and all of a sudden another dog
came dashing at me like an arrow. She snarled, I snarled back, and we got
into a little fight. Her owner finally arrived to help Chris separate us.
She had freed herself from her leash and tried to bite my throat fur, but I
got a revenge on her and punctured her eye. Her owner tied her to a pole and
checked her, then he checked me, too, while I was sitting beside Chris. A
lady came and offered help, she had a pen and paper ready, so the man could
write down our details. However, he never called to see if everything was
allright. He also checked Chris' hands, and she only found out later that
one of us had scratched her skin a little. O I was happy when we were back
home, I lay down, watched Chris, made sure she was allright and then fell
asleep. Since then, she says, i have grown aware of dogs from a larger
distance and don't want to walk on.

Then a friend of Chris' arrived, and we spent a lazy time together, going
for dog walks all the three of us, and the snow has kept bothering us. The
doorbell has rung a few times, and each time Chris returned with a tiny
little package. This is what she calls pre-Christmas specialty.

I think tomorrow we are going somewhere, but I don't know where. Most likely
we'll walk through the snow and Chris will be enjoying my professional
guiding work.

I remember once we went for the dog route, and the route was completely
unidentifiable for her. So Chris told me to find the two landmarks, two
staircases, and then home. The door wouldn't open, so we walked around the
block, and I showed her the entrance that took us inside to the back door. I
think that was my masterpiece of listening to cues off harness, only on
flexible leash. Chris says this is why she insisted on receiving me at the
end of the last winter season, so we would have time to establish and
consolidate routines that would help us survive this time of torture, as she
calls it. With Hapoo she had suffered something similar, and Hapoo, too, had
to help her get oriented.
Well I like Chris, and yesterday one of my favourite others visited, the
boss without his cool dog Gina. He even brought me some leftover meat, but
Chris told him to put it into my food bowl, and I really enjoyed that fiest.

Talk to you soon when I know all about that Christmas-specialty thing,
Quito.