What in the world...

You may be wondering who in the world has time to chronicle all of the friends her dog meets. I know, I thought it was an unusual question as well, but it is apparently on the minds of my friends and family. As a full-time teacher and grad student, I have had little free time during the past eleven months. However, I have my first puppy and my first break from students...and clearly don't know what to do with this much free time.

Here are the cast of characters:

• Main Character: 
• Lucky - 4 month old Golden Retriever Mix
• Supporting Roles: 
• Me - M
• My husband - G (who has yet to discover the time I've devoted to this instead of dog training...whoops!)
• Lucky's friends - without whom this blog could not exist.

This idea spawned on one of our LONG walks. I mean LONG in all caps because we have to stop on every block so our dog can stare up adoringly at strangers. She does this in hope that they will stop and pet her, which they unassumingly do. I've seen her stare down strangers from a block away. She stops. She sits. She starts wagging her tail. Then she waits. And waits. And waits. Meanwhile, I tug and grit my teeth and wonder how we will play this game when she's three times the size. UGH. 

All throughout these walks though we meet some of the most fabulous people in our neighborhood. Owning a dog is apparently like joining a social club that until recently I unaware of. Cars stop to say hi. Small children unknowingly submit their fingers to her licks. Adults try to guess what breed she is and make cute comments like, "Are you walking her or is she walking you?" Endearing, yes?