TERVUREN

Terri will be 8 years old soon. January 11th, in fact. What you need to know about herding dogs' need for exercise is this: they need to run. If they don't, they become unhappy.

We spent a short Christmas holiday at my sister's and B-I-L's place. They now live in an apartment style condo, 3rd floor. Crazy [because they choose to live in a 4 story building] people with dogs live in the condos on her street and all the dogs must share (on leash) the same yard. This makes for interesting pee-mail for the dogs and Terri enjoyed reading all the messages. Often. That meant frequent trips outside involving getting my hat, coat, scarf and boots on and off each trip. Humbug. The point is: no place for a good long run. Terri was bored and had nothing much to do to spend her energy. A walk to the train station was plenty for me but not worth mentioning for a fast dog. Playing "toss the ball down the hallway" was frowned upon. My sister is definitely not a dog person — the only sister who isn't.

We visited my nephew for Christmas dinner and I finally gave Terri the 45 minute run she'd been wanting at a parking lot across the street from his house. He was taking care of a friend's border collie over Christmas so I copied his method of exercise. Terri was happy, at last. We had to keep the two bitches apart — they snarled at one another but Terri was much calmer there after her run than she had been in the condo.

We got a huge snowfall the day after we returned home — 33 cm by my tape measure. Thanks to my helpful farm neighbour, I didn't have to break my back shovelling 60 feet of driveway. I had to clear around the car, not to mention the car itself, plus a route to the back yard for meter readers. In the course of that work, Terri got her beloved runs with her toys. Day after day, I made progress with snow and more snow and Terri chased her toys. When we had an especially pleasant day of temps around -3°C, Terri wanted to stay out all day long. She became naughty and refused to come inside or even jump into the back of the car. She wanted to run non-stop. I had to trick her into getting into the car because I had shopping to do but after that, I let her out to run some more. We played outside for hours.

Now that it is cold again (-18°C), I much prefer being able to open my back door for her.

P.S. Quote from a friend with Malinois (the short haired Belgian shepherds) Mals resemble "Border Collies on speed that like to bite."

THE RUINS

I was in my late teens, hanging out with a friend who liked animals. He took me to his pal's home but nobody was there. Taking the key from its "secret" spot, he let me inside so we could look at some young kittens. Suddenly, a nine foot tall lizard appeared at the kitchen door!

Then I woke up. That nightmare was thanks partly to watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (again) plus reading The Ruins by Scott Smith. Harry Potter books and movies don't normally cause nightmares so I put the blame mainly on The Ruins in which a pleasant beach vacation turns into a horror story. Some friends head to the interior of the country and ignore the the taxi driver's warning: "No good you go this place." ... "I take you new place. Fifteen dollars. Everyone happy." It all goes downhill from there. Not a book to read if you are prone to being frightened, getting depressed or having nightmares. You've been warned.