Constant Companion

This is Widget. This picture was taken when she was three months old.

Widget is a Japanese Chin. This means she is queen of the world. She's is smart, full of energy, has her own internal clock, never fails to tell you when it is time to eat, walk, play, go to bed, stop being in one room when my husband is in another, or give her a greenie.

Lt Dan says she "bridges" us, if I am in one room and he is in another, Widget will nag me to go to the room he is in, or if I refuse (and I always do), she will park somewhere in between, where she can supervise both of us. We need supervision you know....

At five months, this was Widget's favorite activity while I was doing morning things. Every morning, without fail. Now, at the ripe old age of four, soon to be five, she pulls kleenex out of the bathroom bin and shreds them on the bedroom floor (if I don't catch her first). At least I got her to stop doing this to the toilet paper!

Widget looks like a fru fru dog but the truth is she's a pistol. She's full of energy, walks great distances and after a short nap is ready to go again. She's tough, she can run full on into something and she just huffs, blows her nose out and carries on. She is definitely a companion dog and it is good that I don't work outside the home. Widget's breed does not do well being left alone all day, they need their people. If I worked every day she would have to go to doggy day care or something. Widget has moved to new homes four times in her four years and adapted to them all in her cheery Widget owns the world way--she's wonderful at adapting.

Here is Widget today. She is my constant companion. Widget commutes the 71/2 hours in the car with me to and from The Cave and the Sunny Place usually without complaint. Yesterday we came back to the Sunny Place from The Cave and she did something very odd. As I was unloading the car, she kept getting back in it. I put a doggy bed in the front seat and she wears her harness which then gets attached to the seat belt to hold her stable for sudden stops etc. She appeared to be none too happy about being here and not having my husband. It's the first time she's ever done that. She got back into the car four times and finally believed me when I said we were staying here for a while--and moped, for a long time. Hot nose, little tears from her eyes, sad face. It was pitiful.

Did I mention? She's not spoiled? No, not one bit.