Glorious Day! Fun Friends!

Hi Cyber-pack!

I got to meet Mazie! I got to meet Mazie! And Owen too.

When I came out the door with my Alison for my walk today, I went across the street to say "Mfff" to Tessa, who was looking out her front window. Then I turned around and a really cute Goldador (Golden Retriever-Yellow Lab cross) was walking down our block. When she got in front of Mazie and Owen's house, I barked a nice short high-pitched "come on over and play!" to her. Then Alison held my mouth shut and said, "no bark", but familiar corgi barks started coming from across the street...from the front porch, not the back yard! And then Tessa started to bark from inside her house! So we were all four of us barking, "Let's all play, and you, Goldador, too!" But, no play group. Goldie's walker was talking on her cell phone and just eased on down the road.

Then I realized, "Hey, Merlin, Mazie was joining in with you barking, and Owen too." ("Owen Too, the Count," for all you Cubs and Sox fans.) "And they are on their porch!" I think Alison read my mind, 'cause we crossed back to our side of the street, and, Mazie and Owen came off the porch, on leashes, with their beta female, who I will call "Jane Doe".

Whoaaa....I only ever saw their heads before, coming through the under-the-back-fence hole that we all dug. Their heads are only a little smaller than mine. And their ears might even be bigger than mine, although my ears are a good size, and I can move them in hundreds of positions, and I've only seen the corgis' ears pointed straight up to the sky. (I can even bend the top of either or both of my ears over like a terrier. My humans think it is especially cute when I do one terrier ear and one cattle dog ear.)

I wanted to ask Mazie and Owen, "Hey, what ever happened to your legs, guys? Your legs are only about three inches long!!" But I didn't. I have nice long German Shorthair Pointer legs, even though my body is smaller-than-Pointer.

I slowly approached lovely Mazie first, nose to nose, and Owen let out a small growl, which seemed to surprise Jane Doe, who said Owen was usually "laid back." (The humans say such odd things. Maybe that means Owen "plays dead" a lot.) So I said something back, and Owen dropped to the ground, and he sent me a message: "OK Merlin, you can be the boss. You are very tall, and I've seen from our back-yard-under-the-fence-hole that you can run really really fast!"

Then Mazie said, "Hey, I, Mazie, am a B____, and that makes ME the top canine around here, right?" "Mmmmmm...rrrrr..NO," I said, "but I think you're a real spitfire, with an incredible set of ears, and you are a first class digger. And I've seen how you really move on those little short legs. So I want to invite you to play." I made my very best play-bow, being careful to demonstrate how low I could bow with my long Pointer legs. And she lowered her tail wag and bowed back!

The humans barked to each other too. (They really have some strange sounds for barks. Many of them sound like, "Ha, ha, ha.") Something about playing together this summer. (Yessssss!) And then Mazie and Owen went inside, and I went for a glorious walk and had many wonderful sniffs because the ground was damp, but it was not freezing cold...just perfect for a happy mutt with a fur coat and good friends... Hey, those Goldador smells were really interesting down the rest of my block!

Love to you all,
Merlin