Luci’s Diary. The world's full of strangers, but some of them are just friends waiting to play with you. 

August 2015

Squirrels! They’re wonderful. I discovered them this week. The humans say they’ve been around the whole time, and they couldn’t understand that I’d never spotted them previously. But I have now. What a great game it is to try to catch them in the open, before they can shoot up a tree.

I knew about birds already. Specially crows. They like to stand around in the park just waiting for me to chase them. That’s such fun! They wait until I’m really close – do they think I’m going to change my mind and stop or something? – and then they go flapping off making that strange cawing sound.

I’m really quick these days, so I can keep up with them for a while even when they’re in the air. What a great game.

And in the park with the lake, there are ducks too. I nearly caught one the other day. It took off for the water when I came running up, but didn’t get high enough to get over the railings, so it flew into them and came crashing back down to earth. If it hadn’t been able to slip through the bars, I’d have had it.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure what I’d have done if I had got it. Maybe it’s just as well I didn’t. It could have been embarrassing. I don’t think my jaws would fit around it. Anyway, the fun’s chasing the birds, not catching them. 

Which I never have.

As well as birds, there’s other dogs. Not the big ones. With the big ones, I find the most sensible thing is to keep behind the legs of whichever human I’m out with. 

By the way, you don’t have to be really big to be big as far as I’m concerned.

But with the ones my size, it’s just play, play, play. Which I enjoy all the more now that I’m so quick. There’s not many of them can get away from me or, when we turn around and chase the other way, catch me. In fact, the only annoying thing about them is that sometimes they just stop and lie down panting. I have to keep running up to them to get them back on their feet.

Got to be quick if you're going to catch me...

The human puppies are good too. I mentioned the ones I played with in the park before, but there are others I meet in different places. That always works out well. There was the one from Scotland who used to give me treats when she decided to let me train her, though I think she may have thought she was training me.

With my good friend in Scotland

And the other day we went and saw another favourite of mine who was always ready to run around, sit around, play around or stroke me. Little girl human puppies? You can never have too many of them, I reckon.

With another good friend

What a great world. Full of strangers you have to approach warily, or back away from. But every now and then, one of them turns out to be a friend who was just waiting to meet you. And a friend’s someone you can play with.

Like the human puppies. Small dogs. Crows. Ducks. And now squirrels.

Though the crows, ducks and squirrels may not like me quite as much as I like them.