Thursday 11 February 2010

'Cow' yote?

It's time for some 'puppy-talk'. PonyGirl has been on the road for about 3 and half months now and her initial shyness has pretty much completely disappeared. She has encountered so many strange people, situations & other dogs that I have to believe it has all been for the good. She accepts all our new homesteads quite easily and gets comfortable quickly wherever we set up camp. That includes being in the middle of the Arizona dessert with no one around, to being in the center of Orange County, California ( world's largest city?) and everything in between. She has run free over the dunes in Oregon and on many, many country roads just for the love of running. She loves the beach, the woods, and chasing rabbits. She has been in all kinds of weather and isn't frightened of thunder (!). Her politeness training is going well...she is learning a lot and teaching me a lot. She is much more of a challenge than Cowgirl ever was. I try my best not to compare them, but sometimes I do. It just slips out. She has a very strong will and so do I and sometimes they clash. I realize that she is still just a puppy so I give her lots of slack, but I so want her to be a well-behaved girl. She is doing exceptionally well and we get compliments from people all the time. I do keep in mind that her origins are basically unknown except for her pit bull mum. Which brings me to my most recent surprise supposition. I was about to take a hike on a trail through a New Mexico State Park when I stopped to read the notices on the trailhead board. There were all the usual warnings and rules, etc and then there were the descriptions of animals of the area. There it was...a picture of a long-legged, skinny, yellow-eyed coyote and it hit me...could she be half coyote???? There are coyotes all over Baja and we knew her pa was a scoundrel of some sort. With that idea in my mind, her 'wildness' , which she only displays to me, has started to make sense. Now, I see my 'wild thing' my 'cow-yote' and I yip-yip-yip at the sky. PonyGirl really likes it when I do that and proceeds to gnaw me mercilessly until I surrender.

Saturday 6 February 2010

Don`t Cry for me, Papaya

Okay, okay it has been some time since my last post, but with good reason....traveling and on the move. But, today I sit in Demming, New Mexico at their Visitors Center with a little time to think about things but especially to think about my sweet, little friend that I so love and who loves me ( so she tells me). It is not every day that such thoughtfulness is encountered in one so young and such un-self-conciousness in expressing her emotions. My little friend is indeed an exceptional young lady who exhibits such grace and good humour that she is a joy to be around. I feel that this is just the tip of the iceberg of her potential. It`s good to be so lucky in life and have such good friends to share it with. Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...