Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: Dillie the Westie Speaks About Karim and Reggie: Together We are the Rat Pack! Chapter 16

My name on my registration papers with the Canadian Kennel Club is Dylan Saunders. But I have at least a dozen nicknames such as Snookums, Poopie, Dillie, Dillykins, Lambchops, Pumpkin and Sweetie are just a few but most often it is Dillie and that suits me fine.

Dillie the Westie speaks about Reggie and Karim!

I am older than Reggie and Karim. I am 13 years old and I sleep more than I used to and puppies were so much fun when I was a puppy but as a senior I find them too much to handle as they jump all over me and want to play. I just want some peace and quiet. I realize that my time on earth is getting shorter. I have seen and heard about many humans and dogs dying. Oggie, Cody and Freddy are all gone. My time is soon. We all must die one day and all dogs and humans must accept that and make good however much time we have left. Reggie loves living for sure but he looks forward to meeting Anwar in “The World Beyond” where all living creatures go when they die. There are people and dogs I want to see in that world but until I get there I wake up each day joyful to be alive. My heart is not always regular and at the animal hospital Dr. Murray says I have a heart murmur but I don’t let that stop me from doing the things I love the most being eating, getting treats, walking at the golf course, playing with my toys and sleeping!

Bob and Fay gave me warning about Reggie and Karim before they arrived so I would not be surprised. I was excited! Reggie is a very intelligent dog. He watches the news every night and loves BBC documentaries. He understands English just as well as I do. But he is a very tough dog having lived on the streets of Cairo by himself and that was very difficult. I have had it easy for all my life with my bowl always filled with kibble, lots of cold drinking water, toys and the best of care and the most love a dog could ask for.

Reggie and Karim respect my territory and we never fight over food nor with each other. Reggie and Karim know what it is like on the streets and realize they must respect me and Bob and Fay or they think they may end up on the street again.

I understand what it is like living with caring humans. I know how to read them. I know what their tone of voice means. Both Reggie and Karim are more used to living with mean humans than I am. They are beginning to trust humans and that may take time as they were kicked at, spat upon and cursed a good part of the time. I can help them understand how good humans treat dogs so they can feel safer and more trusting. Karim has been longer on the streets than Reggie and he trusts Bob Fay and I but he had a problem with fear and aggression lunging against other humans and dogs he does not know but a trainer has helped him become less fearful.

I can say I loved it when Bob and Fay retired because they are around the house with me so I spend very little time alone. I mean there was a dog walker that took me out when they used to work but that’s not the same! Reggie and Karim keep me company when Bob and Fay leave the house so I enjoy having them with me. They are part of our new family! I also do my best to keep them out of trouble. I enjoy being the leader of the pack and that means Karim and Reggie respect me. I can teach them things and they can teach me things too. They are my brothers and I am so fortunate to have them . I also know I will probably die and go to The World Beyond before they do so they can take care of Bob and Fay as they love me so much they will be so sad when I pass on. There will be Reggie and Karim to take care of them. You think humans take care of dogs? They do but we take care of humans too. Love and respect are mutual.

I love it when all three of us dogs go on walks and the humans all say what a handsome group of dogs we are. The dogs also know how tough Karim and Reggie can be so we get a lot of respect and even admiration from them. I love that movie “Ocean’s Eleven”. We are the Rat Pack! I love Reggie and Karim like brothers and will do all I can to make their lives in Canada so much better than it was in Egypt.

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 9July1971: Hvar Island, Yugoslavia: A STARK NAKED MAN SMOKING A PIPE!

I was up at 6 this morning. I went to the market to buy, cucumbers, peaches, bread and sliced meat for breakfast. ROB GOT UP, ATE AND WENT BACK TO BED. It is 10 now and very bright and sunny and becoming a hot day. I am sitting outside on the patio with the last bit of shade. WE BOTH HAVE HAD TOO MUCH SUN. We will take it easy today.

Yesterday we took an excursion to the other end of the island to a town called Minha. We left at 9 and returned at 6. It was a very long day. It was so hot we had to seek shade in the woods to a beautiful spot on the pine needles. Made me think of a jug of wine, a loaf of bread and some cheese. Andy so good to receive your letter as I had almost given up hope. Please write and our address c/o Tourist Office, Pag Island, Yugoslavia. Your last letter took seven days to arrive here. We will not leave here until we hear from you. Please write today. We saw a white poodle yesterday and it made me think of Suzy. My old sandals are falling apart so I took them to the shoemaker and I wonder what he will do with them.

The swimming here is fantastic. That’s the only word I can use to describe it. So clear but there are tar globs on the beach and our bathing suits are ruined. Both Rob and I have a good tan and look healthy. It is easy to tan here.

Last night we attended a concert in an outdoor theatre. I loved it but Rob was bored stiff. It was opera but which one I had no idea. There are so many Germans here and I am learning how to say “Mein Gott!”. I said we would visit Heidi in Berlin for 10 days in about two weeks from now. We will leave back home from Frankfurt on Overseas National Airways.

I haven’t gained that much weight. I will be seeing Fritz in Berlin so I must not get fat. I really do not like the food here. It was so much better in Greece. The helpings are small and there is little meat so you must fill up on bread. It is difficult to get used to the store hours. The day must be so long here for people living on the island. The stores are open 9-12 and then 5-9. You just can’t buy a thing when the stores are closed.

Rob and I will go to a nudist beach before we leave only to say we have been once. Yesterday we passed one and Rob saw A STARK NAKED MAN SMOKING A PIPE. If I go naked, I will hide behind a rock! There are so any fat women here that I would not be ashamed. There are many nudist beaches here as the Germans love them.

I think we will leave here in three days on a 7:30 a.m. boat to the mainland and then to Pag Island.

Bye for now as its time for a swim.

Love Marnee

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 25June1971: Korcula Island, Yugoslavia

Dear Barbara and Andrew:

Barb, as far as I know we will le leaving from Frankfurt to get to New York and we will be seeing Fritz in either Munich or West Berlin but I will definitely know when I get to Hvar because we are waiting to hear from Heidi. Korcula is beautiful, old and quaint.

30June1971

Today the wind blows. It is dull and cool. We had planned to go to a fishing village at the other end of the island but with no sun what is the point. So we will go into town and see the museum. We have had one day of rain off and on otherwise it has been lovely. The beach is rocky here. They have huge slabs of cement to lie on. I am very tanned but today it is cold enough to wear slacks and a sweater. What a change from Greece! I twisted my ankle a few days ago ankle so I was flat on my back for a coupler of days. The doctor did pay me a visit.

Andy is your tooth fixed? Did you put that money in the bank. I hope so. How is your cooking going. I hope you are fine and I think about you often and hope you are getting to your appointments. As soon as I know our address in Brac I will send it to you and write right away. Andy please keep our letters. Rob writes in his dairy every day. It will give you a laugh.

Today we take some empty wine bottles down to the place the locals take their plastic jugs to get filled with wine. There is only sterilized milk on the shelves and I can’t get Rob to try it. Like Greece the bread here is coarse. We have read all our books and there are no English-speaking tourists here so no one to exchange them with. Rob is out in the ocean with his speargun often. He bought a Russian speargun powered by cartridges. He also has a ghastly looking octopus lure and a fishing line.  If only the water would calm down he might catch an octopus.

Unlike Greece there are only a few hippies here (maybe a dozen). Maybe the season has just begun.

The diet is about the same as last year on the Greek islands. We have meat and bread and cheese for breakfast. The women in town are excellent cooks. They never seem to have the foods you ask for. The restaurants are government run so they don’t care either just like in the stores and post office. The people are very surly here. They think we are Americans. I would not like to live behind the Iron Curtain. The stores have few goods in them. Not much in the food shops either but there is always a good supply of wine. It is very cheap. A pack of cigarettes cost 22 cents.

There are palm trees outside our window.

Supetar, Brac Island

We just retuned from the museum but there is not much in it as this is a tiny town. There was a big turret in the port when we disembarked. A huge Yugoslav flag was on top of the turret with a big hammer and sickle. Tito speaks from the top of the turret when he is here.

We bought some sweet cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, meat rolls and some oranges and ate them on a bench overlooking the harbour. We are becoming European. I also bought some laundry detergent to wash our clothes. Rob has gone fishing again and I will find him later. We bought tickets to a folklore concert for tonight and that ought to be fun. It will be held in an outdoor theatre. We met a French couple here. He is an oceanographer with Jacques Cousteau.  He is travelling with an Austrian FAIRY who massaged my ankle and he loves Robert and keeps on patting him!

30June

The concert was good. We leave tomorrow.

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 3March1970: Hallgarten, Germany: Stuck In Frankfurt!

Dear Barbara:

I will give this to woman boarding an Overseas National Airways flight to New York. On Sunday there was a flight on ONA to Chile then back to New York. I did not try for it. There is one tomorrow but it is sold out with a crew of 7 trying to get back. The next plane goes on the 11th. Perhaps I should go to Palma and leave from there. I hear there is a mail strike in Canada. Andrew and Robert must think I have left forever.

Mum

Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: Reggie’s First Christmas: Chapter Fifteen

Should a dog that prays to Allah believing in his vast powers be celebrating Christmas? I am uncertain but my heart dictates if we all accept some divine presence there is no reason a Muslim dog could not celebrate Christmas. Both Jesus and Allah helped people so why not celebrate their lives but again I am not a sophisticated religious type “only a dog” but if it makes your soul feel good. I feel copasetic about celebrating Christmas. Just in case in my morning prayers I tell Allah what I am celebrating and ask for forgiveness should I be wrong! Reggie believes in covering his bases!

We dogs are up early and there will be no sleeping in on Christmas Day! That’s what we confidently think not yet having our turkey. Bob is surprised we are up so early and we go on an early morning stroll and it is snowing with big fluffy flakes that make our noses cold. All the dog walkers exchange “Merry Christmas” salutations to each other. The dogs are positively bristling with excitement.

We return home and excitedly gobble our morning kibble and a traditional Greek Christmas breakfast for Bob and Fay of Melomacaruna (honey cookies), corobedies (almond cookies with icing sugar) and baklava. We all receive a few crumbs of each and Karim and I remember a few shopkeepers and bakers giving us stale Egyptian pastries that taste like these Greek ones. Fay once had a grandmother living in Egypt for a few years. Do I have some cosmic connection to Fay? Fay and Bob have several cups of tea. Oh why are they so slow! We want to open our presents!

But wait, there are socks hanging over the fireplace with our names on each of them. Bob tells us Santa Claus was here when we were sleeping and left special presents in stockings. We are watchdogs so how could this be! We tear open the wrapped presents in the stockings. There are toys and balls in a pile when we are done. Karim receives a beautiful plaid jacket for his winter walks. Then there is that big box for each of us we tear open with our teeth. A new bed and a set of shiny bowls for kibble and water with our names on each. We are barking with excitement and Bob calms us down and we begin to play with our toys. We share them but the beds and bowls are our special property. We spent the morning playing with our toys and racing around the house careful not to knock the Christmas tree down. Dillie knocked it down when he was a silly puppy and it fell right on him. He laughs about it today but he tells us he was a very scared puppy even though he was not hurt.

Fay puts a big turkey in the oven. A turkey looks like a big chicken but it is stuffed with wonderful smelling stuffing. There are little cabbages called Brussel Sprouts and carrots. Around noon there is an aroma like Karim and I have never smelt before. Dillie tells us it is the smell of the turkey cooking. He also says we most likely will get a piece of turkey meat! Oh all of us can’t wait.

Lexis, Mick and Drew are coming for an early dinner. Lexis is the daughter of Fay and Bob and Mick is her husband.Drew is their son. Lexis and Mick have a little daughter Katie. But prior to their arrival we are all going upstairs to watch what Bob calls a Christmas Classic narrated by Burl Ives called “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. It is beautiful story and we three dogs are overjoyed to see a deer as the hero of the story. Wow! He can fly and his nose glows red! Perhaps he is descended from some magical creature from the times of the pharaohs. And we all love Santa Claus for giving us our presents.

When you are a street dog there is no magic except perhaps how Karim and I arrived in Canada. This whole Christmas celebration is magic.

Lexis, Mick and Drew arrive and Bob has set a roaring fire. We greet our guests and snooze by the fire as the humans open their presents. In fact we get a present from Lexis and Mick and from Drew. Doggie peanut butter cupcakes. Fay says to us that we are getting a special Christmas meal so we will wait until New Year’s Eve for the peanut butter cupcakes.

The humans drink a bottle of something that goes pop when it is opened and they turn on the radio to listen to Christmas Carols that we dogs have been listening to for weeks and are growing tired of listening to.

Fay and Bob prepare dinner and Bob makes a special sauce called gravy. He takes our Christmas present bowls and puts carrots, the little cabbages, mashed potatoes, carrots, and a big piece of turkey meat soaked in gravy. We all gobble it down and Karim and I feel like great Egyptian leaders of pharaoh times eating a feast fit for the pharaoh! The food makes us very sleepy and we fall asleep in our beds. Karim, is not used to eating so well so the poor guy farts up a storm. Dillie says it is the Brussel Sprouts. We wake up as the guests leave and the cold air bathes us from the open front door. It clears that “Karim gas” out if you know what I mean.

Bob and Fay spend a couple of hours cleaning up. Bob makes what he calls “turkey broth” which he says will make something called risotto. After that we go to the bathroom outside in the backyard and go upstairs and watch a funny movie “Home Alone”. Karim laughs and Dillie is asleep on Bob’s lap. Karim and I try to get as many belly rubs as possible!

What a day! Bob takes us out for a walk in the crisp cold air in our new coats and after that humans and dogs go for a sleep. I have never been so happy and my tummy so full. All a dog wants is to loved and I am getting that in Canada. I wish a Merry Christmas to my original master Anwar in The Land Beyond and I think I hear a big laugh and Anwar saying, “I love you Reggie”.

Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: Reggie’s Naughty Christmas Eve: Chapter 15

Everything is settling down nicely with Bob, Fay, Dillie, Karim and me REGGIE!

It is cold outside. Poor Karim is not used to the cold but Dillie and I have such beautiful winter coats when we swagger down the street on our walks I think the entire neighbourhood is admiring the FRIENDLY PACK of Scottish and Egyptian dogs. Karim will be getting a new coat very soon! We feel with our leader Dillie The West Highland Terrier who is Bob and Fay’s 13 year old Westie we are so cool like the Rat Pack we all saw on Turner Classic Movies a few nights ago. Dillie is Sinatra, Karim Sammy Davis Junior and I am Dean Martin. We are so cool. We are on top of the world. Even Dillie has gained some energy as he keeps up with us and at 13 years old that’s great for him.

I am not sure what this Christmas is but it is very important for those who call themselves Christians. Their Allah seems to be called God and his son Jesus and it is time to celebrate his birth and everyone seems to give presents to each other on Christmas Day. That’s cool with me.

Fay and Bob have set up a wonderful smelling tree with lights and funny little shiny balls hanging on it. And there are presents wrapped in wonderfully coloured paper. Karim and I are fascinated by the shiny boxes which I understand are opened on Christmas Day. Fay and Bob’s children will come over on Christmas Day and they will have a special drink called Christmas punch and open presents with the fireplace crackling. We dogs are so excited! We are hoping to get a big piece of the big bird they eat on Christmas day called “turkey”.

Bob and Fay go out on Christmas Eve, which I think is the day before Christmas, to a neighbour’s house where they will drink something called wine and eat many special treats. We dogs love peanut butter as a treat but I am not sure what the humans eat for special occasions.

Dillie, Karim and I love to look at the Christmas tree with its lights and special shiny balls. We are all so happy and grateful that Allah or God has thrown us together. We see the shiny boxes and get a bit crazy and rip them up so the paper is all over the floor. Dillie joins us so we think it is OK. The living room is a mess like a terrorist bomber in Iraq had detonated a bomb. All of us enjoyed our fun but now are thinking we have done something wrong and hide.

Dillie the Westie advises us after our naughtiness the Canadian Christmas Tree police might have arrested us!

Bob and Fay return from their party. I hear Bob say “Holy Shit! What have these devils been up to?” Then Fay and Bob laugh and call our names softly and we come for pats on the head and belly rubs. It is the season for love and forgiving but as we go on our Christmas Eve walk Bob tells us we have been naughty but that it has been a long year for all of us and as his God forgives he will follow him and forgive us but he warns us don’t you ever do this again! Bob and Fay are so kind to us sometimes even when we are not good. I do not know why.

We all go to bed as Bob and Fay wrap up what we destroyed. But we are so very excited about Christmas Day. I tell Karim that Dillie has told me there are presents for dogs? I have never celebrated Christmas before so what presents could Karim and I receive as Cairo street dogs? We are used to hate and anger and are not being forgiven for the bad things we do so perhaps being forgiven and loved is the biggest present of Christmas.

Fay and Bob put out cookies and milk for a man called Santa Claus that will come down the chimney and give us presents. Dillie says that in all circumstances don’t bark or growl at Santa Claus or there will be no presents for us. After our Christmas Eve walk Bob says that we have been so naughty and if we dare eat the cookies for Santa we are in big trouble. We poor Cairo street dogs are so happy about this Christmas we will not eat the cookies although early in the morning Dillie tells us we can eat the cookies very quietly and return to bed and we do enjoying the sweetness of these shortbread cookies. We are all so excited about tomorrow where Dillie says we will all receive toys. I drift off to sleep too tired to say my prayers but Anwar, my original owner, comes to me and says how much he loves me and how proud he is of me even if I have torn up the shiny boxes under the Christmas tree.

I feel in my heart that Allah or Bob and Fay’s God have a special and tender heart for all dogs. If it is Allah or a Christian god they seem to be the same to me. Love, forgiveness and compassion!

I will remember this night and lessons that it has taught me forever. Just you wait and see. The Ayatollah was moved when I told him about this night. In fact I saw tears rolling down his face. More to come.

RKS 2024 Wine: Ontario Merlot and a Glutton for Punishment

As a single varietal Ontario Merlot rarely shines. Jazz it up with lots of oak then it just might work. But being a glutton for punishment I try yet another Ontario Merlot. You know that priest in the DaVinci Code that self flagellates well that might be akin to me drinking a good Ontario Merlot. But bless the Lord perhaps there is an exception or a Papal Dispensation concerning the Puddicombe Estate 1797, 2019 Reserve Merlot?

Aroma: Blackberry, cassis, black cherry and a bit of cooked rhubarb pie filling.

Palate: Tannins are in the medium range initially but gain in intensity and rawness with aeration of the wine. The inviting aromatics do not translate to the palate. The wine is struggling to flash some fruit but without return for the struggle. There is no readily apparent fruit but if one concentrates and digs there is at best some chalky blackberry and cassis. Yes indeed I am a glutton for punishment with Ontario Merlot yet again.Waiting for the next top line Ontario Merlot is like waiting for the Toronto Maple Leafs to win their next Stanley Cup.

Personality: Not much positivity to speak of like Trudeau and his disastrous immigration policy.

Cellarbility: Drink now.

Food Match: Wink. Wink. You know what I mean when I say a Friday night wine.

Price: $20.60 CDN (markdown).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 77/100.

(Puddicombe Estate Winery 1797, 2019 Reserve Merlot, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Puddicombe Estate Winery, Stoney Creek, Ontario. 750 mL, 13%).

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 3March1970: Frankfurt, Germany

Dear Barbara:

Again I did not get on an Overseas National Airways flight for the second day in a row.  Want to come home and I could have almost cried. I checked into a hotel near the train station in Frankfurt called The Continental to stay the night. There is a chance I can get a flight on March 5 to Bangor, Maine a refuelling stop of the plane that is then finishing its trip in Los Angeles. I don’t really care where I go other getting over the Atlantic Ocean. I will have to be in the airport at 7:15 in the morning. The next chance will be on the 11th or the 13th. The next option might be to return to Spain and head back to the United States from there. This Hotel, The Continental is a funny old one. I should have left my bag at the airport and brought an over the shoulder bag. I tried 4 hotels prior to this hotel but there were no rooms with bathrooms I can’t seem to shake this cold. I looked out the window and there are so many neon lights. The train station in Frankfurt is enormous. I managed o find an American paper and read that another one of the Dionne quintuplets died. She had a blood clot. That the third one that died. I guess they weren’t healthy people. No way I would live in Europe other than in Spain. Too cold and damp in Holland and Germany.

Love Mum

RKS Literature: Renewed Life with The First High-Ball of the Day (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“Only for a brief moment every day in the warmth and renewed life of a first high-ball did his mind turn to those opalescent dreams of future pleasure-the mutual heritage of the happy and the damned. But this was only for a little while. As he grew drunker the dreams faded and he became a confused spectre, moving in odd crannies of his own mind, full of unexpected devices harshly contemptuous at best and reaching sodden and dispirited depths. One night in June he had quarreled violently with Maury over a matter of utmost triviality. He remembered dimly next morning it had been about a broken pint bottle of champagne.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Beautiful and Damned”, 1922

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: Reggie and Dillie Try to Calm Down Karim: Chapter Fourteen

Those of you reading this are human. Do you really comprehend what it is like living the life of a cast-off dog on the streets of Cairo? No you don’t as you are not a dog. You would have to had led the life Karim and I lived in Cairo to understand what I think you humans refer to as “Mean Street”.

Please understand not all Egyptians hate dogs. There were many families in Cairo that had small dogs as pets but due to COVID-19 many Egyptians lost their jobs and many could no longer afford to pay for dog food or animal doctor bills so many of us cast-offs were a product of COVID-19. The lucky ones were accepted by animal shelters but many were abandoned in some street far away from their home so they would not know how to return.

This was very cruel to dogs that relied on humans for love and protection. Many dogs became angry and mean against humans as they felt betrayed. Imagine being in a caring and loving home, like me, then poof you are a street dog surviving to live. Can you imagine the terror of being alone with animal control trying to shoot or poison you? Here in Canada they let you live and put you in a shelter. Allah help you if it is a kill shelter. In a kill shelter you are put to sleep forever if no one comes to adopt you but at least you have hope. Street dogs often have no hope.

Street dogs frequently loose their manners and forget their training. They poop and pee wherever they want. They fail to obey most commands from humans fearing it is a trap to grab and kill them. One day a group of teenagers were smoking hashish in a back alley in Cairo and they held out a piece of chicken for me and my tummy was so empty it was hurting. As I walked over to the boys I heard a couple of them chanting in English “KILL”. Thankfully I understand English so I ran off. Street dogs learn not to trust humans as they are dangerous. But some humans were good humans and fed us and gave us water to drink. Most simply ignored us but we will never forget those that tried to kick us or hurt us. For many of us that stays trapped in our minds.

So, we come to Canada with bad attitudes toward human beings. And a long trip on an airplane to a new country we know nothing about. Please don’t expect us to be like many happy Canadian dogs who are loved, protected and so well taken care of. I was on the street for what I think was close to a year and felt, angry, mistreated, abused, hated, threatened and most of all painfully unloved. Can you expect me easily to jump up and wag my tail and thank those who rescued and adopted me?

I told you before I saw a BBC documentary when I was with Anwar about British soldiers in Ireland returning home with post traumatic stress disorder called PTSD because they keep reliving some of the horrific situations they were in. Yes, I think many of us street dogs of Cairo suffered from PTSD. The longer a dog is on the street the greater the chance of it developing PTSD. Me? I think my daily prayers to Allah made me strong and hopeful but do you remember that VERY STUPID MISTAKE I made of biting Bob on my first day with Bob and Fay. I was frightened of humans even though I knew Bob was a good human. Something lurking in my past just made me do it but after I bit Bob my vision went gray and I saw Anwar’s spirit giving me a smile saying that he missed me so very much and that my prayers had been answered about being safe and being loved and that I was to go to Bob and nuzzle him and ask for a belly rub. Anwar said he would be watching me and guiding me in my new life and to trust and be nice to Bob, Fay and Dillie.

Karim was I think a few years older than I was and although a cute schnauzer he was on the street longer than me. Karim may be small but don’t dare get on his bad side. I persuaded him to be nice to Bob, Fay and Dillie and he saw quickly how right I was. There is a trainer (actually the same one that helped me) coming to Bob and Fay’s house a couple of days a week. She says Karim suffers from fear and aggression lunging meaning where he is in situations with strange people and dogs he might try and lunge at them although it is not anger or meanness that causes him to do this but just because his experiences on the streets of Cairo have taught him to be fearful of most humans and dogs.

Karim cute and innocent? He dares you to test it!

Dillie, Bob and Fay’s West Highland Terrier, and I lunge at joggers when they run too close to us, skateboarders, rollerbladers and sometimes big dogs but Fay and Bob tolerate it because it does not happen frequently. Karim goes nuts with almost all dogs and humans he sees if he does not know them. The trainer left Bob and Fay a video how to make Karim more relaxed and part of the training indicates lots of liver treats and kind encouraging words. Dillie, Karim and I watch this video and laugh at us for being so silly.

After three weeks of training Karim has relaxed so we can swagger on our walks like a FRIENDLY dog pack which is both proud and free. Karim is on track! He has gone to the animal hospital and Dr. Furby laughs and says Karim, like me, is “fit as a fiddle”. Karim has found his forever home. Dillie has been so understanding of me and Karim. Without the support of this wise and kind dog we’d be back for adoption. Even Karim treats him as the leader of our pack. A Scottish dog and two Egyptian dogs. We are one big happy family. The cruel days of Egypt are fading away slowly for Karim and Reggie! All three of us dogs would love some goat bones. Do they eat goat in Canada?