My name is Izzy.  “My friend” got me when I was a puppy.  

I call her “my friend,” but, properly, she is my mistress, but she would see that as unseemly. I am her first store-bought, designer dog. That is why I am so special.  I have appointments for grooming and baths at Paws in Paradise.  She must think I am worth it. 

 

    When I was in my puppy months she called me Dizzy Izzy or Busy Izzy.  Now she calls me Miss Congeniality or Velcro Dog.  I love humans, especially those with treats in their pockets. Pats and rubs are almost as good as treats. My special treat friend is Kevin. He has a frisbee-obsessed dog who get treats when he catches it.  I don’t have to do anything but put my nose by Kevin’s pocket to get treats. I enjoy gathering with the other dogs at the lake in the afternoons. We play rough and tumble. In truth I like their human owners as much as I do them.

    Sometimes, I guess, I deserve the label, Velcro Dog. In the winter, I have my sheep coiffure to stay warm, but then along comes spring with oaks shedding their leaves and catkins.  If I haven’t had a timely grooming appointment, all of that stuff gets caught in my curly hair and then I bring it into the house. That’s when my friend might call me “damn dog”. 

    I know my friend is very proud of me because I am well-behaved.  She works a lot with me.  I went to school when I was 6 months old, but I am not sure I was promoted. The trainer then trained my friend (she must have made A’s), and she taught me to excel. I know I am a dog and do not jump on people or get on furniture. We go on nice walks, mostly off-leash. I enjoying smell messages left for me and in return, I try to leave a smell message, even when I only have a punctuation mark left.

    In the summer I go to the mountains for a few months. I am totally free and could roam, but I’m a homebody so I don’t go far.  There are 2 old dog relatives that I see in the mountains.  They usually ignore me and sleep on the porch all day. I do get to drink out of the same water bowl with them. That’s how I learned to be a sloppy drippy water drinker.

    That sums up my life, and it’s almost bedtime. I will head to my friend’s bedroom, my favorite spot for the night is under her bed, which has a dust ruffle. My friend thinks I may be afraid of the dark, but I’m not.  I just want to be where I know she and I are both dreaming.