I Get Some Much Needed Training and a Possible Boyfriend

Jesus H. Christ. Poor owner. She's wearing some sort of rubber thing around her knee and walking around our home slowly. Poor owner. Poor me.

I try to smooth things over from our disastrous hike by looking up at her in a terribly cute way with my big brown eyes. We sit on the sofa as she's drinking her coffee as if to say, "It's OK, I know you didn't mean to make me fall." I guess everything's going to be fine after all. But still, I feel badly.

A couple of days later, Owner and I head outside and meet someone in the place near our home where humans park their moving contraptions. This person really seems to be into petting me. And she smells like other dogs. For the next little while, this person and Owner take turns holding the leash and giving me treats. I get the point pretty quickly--if I behave, I get treats. I'm not stupid--plus my previous owners did the same thing. I decide to play along to amuse Owner, but after a while, I don't even  think about it too much. It seems pretty easy. Plus, Owner is still limping around, so I feel like I owe it to her to be good.

The other human leaves, and Owner and I practice some more. As we're working on a patch of grass near our place, I see a dog from afar. Normally Owner freaks out and tightens her grip on the leash, but this time, maybe because I'm taking it easy (see, the training really did pay off), Owner is calmer as well. We walk over to the other human, whom Owner seems to know, and the dog. He's a little Chihuahua, and he tells me his name is Sam. We check each other out. "Don't get too close, or I might just fall in love," he says. Ugh. Males will say anything. I miss Max--his banter was always classier than the rest. Still, this might be fun. Sam and his minder head back to their -- wow--they only live next door!

Sam might not be so bad after all.