Pelucha

I have never talked much about my dog Pelucha.  'Peluche' is the Spanish word for teddy bear so Pelucha with an 'a' makes it feminine.  The watchman picked her name not me but it seems to suit her.  I have always thought (and still do) that she is a funny looking little thing.  With those big sticky outy ears  if she had the brown eye patch she would be a dead ringer for Gizmo. She was a little skinny mutt maybe 12 weeks old, dropped off in front of the garage one day by the Indians.  I had no interest in owning a dog as I am only here seasonally but I was not here at the time and the men working on Carmelo's house kept feeding her a bit of lunch, just enough to keep her from starving to death and enough to keep her around.  Then one day when Carmelo was here he decided that she needed to be fed and so bought her a big bag of dog food and we left it with the watchman.  She was now officially mine!!  Spencer thinks she is the most awesome dog on the planet.  She walks on a leash like she was born with it on and never had to be trained even to heel.  

Well, let me tell you, I have had dogs all of my life and she is probably the best little guard dog I have ever had.  She is not tied but never leaves the place.  I am told that when I leave she goes way out to the main gate and waits for me.  She is at times there when I return but I have reports that she has waited 4 1/2 hours and then gone home when it started to rain.  Today I took a chair out into the gazebo to get a feel for what it will be like when done and before I knew it there she was right at my feet.

Then I left and went to the house and she stayed as long as she could see me but as soon as  I disappeared, over to the house she came.

She is so smart.  Here she is trying to sneak into the terazza and I am telling her out, so she turned around.

Then she plopped herself down to keep an eye on me.  Yesterday I had a guy deliver some steel for the roof and he put it in the garage.  I sat down on the steps in the garage to watch and next thing I knew she was right there under my arm.  When he got too close for her liking she barked at him and I had to hold her back or she would have charged him.  She kept ducking her head under my arm trying to get at him but listens when I tell her it is OK.  When I go to Canada or away for any length of time, Luis my gardener takes her home and keeps her and I pay $1/day.  Such a deal; I am truly blessed.