the big move - and back again

One day, as I was flexing my paws and enjoying the couch as usual, I sensed a wind of change coming up. Main Servant was talking about a Gaia all the time, mentioning Scooby a lot, and she started putting things in boxes. We were taken into her car after getting big hugs from the male two-legger, and then we had a long trip. Little Zorq wasn't coming along, he preferred the company of the man. Along the way I started to pick up familiar smells. We were going to Spain again, and this time we would stay there for longer than just a few weeks. When we arrived at Scooby, it was freezing cold. The world had turned into ice and snow, and we were all snuggled up under the blankets in a very small house on wheels. There we also met Gaia, a very furry dog with big pointy ears that turned out to be our new pack member. She didn't see much and kept bumping into things and into us. We got along quite well and since she preferred to sleep on the floor instead of on the bed, my sleeping space wasn't compromised. After all she behaved much like us, although she had a lot more hair and didn't need to wear a coat and snood when going out for walks. Guido seemed particularly fond of her and the two of them were always together, planning things and talking about places I had never been. One afternoon when we took a walk, she and Guido took off and didn't come back. Main servant almost had a fit and drove around the campo most of the night, I could hear her shouting their names. Early in the morning we heard the bells at the gate near our little house on wheels ringing, and it turned out it was Guido jumping over the fence. He emitted an impressive smell, so profound it filled the whole place. Shortly after that, main servant came up with Gaia who appeared to have used the same perfume. Main servant was both upset and crying and muttering things about the stench, and then she took the two of them away. I wondered what was going to happen. When they returned, Guido was steaming with indignation. She washed me, he muttered. With cold water. And she put on some stench that completely took away my lovely smelly stuff. According to Gaia he screamed at the top of his lungs but main servant insisted they were NOT getting back into her basket smelling like that. She didn't quite understand what the fuss was all about, after all it was really excellent quality pig shit and they had had a great hunting party, just the two of them. After that ordeal, we could get back under the covers (Guiod still shivering and complaining) and have some sleep. Guido and Gaia had to pledge never ever ever ever to pull a stunt like that again. I hate it when my sleep gets interrupted so I immediately took the best spot and made sure I kicked at everybody getting too close for comfort.



We all spent most of our days in Spain being very lazy and improving our couch potato skills, and taking the occasional long walk on the campo. On some days it was so bitter cold we spent all day huddled up under the blankets, only going out for a quick peepee once our twice. Some days we saw new dogs being brought in, mostly galgos. Some of them looked very very scared and they were so thin, we felt sorry for them. Especially Fae was very upset when she saw them. Main servant spent a lot of time taking care of them, and taking care of the cats who lived opposite our little house. One day we got outside and found ourselves a treat: fresh chicken, ready to hunt! Someone had moved the fence that had kept them apart from us, and we and the guys from paddock 9 had a feast. The humans were not amused, though. We had a great time anyway.

But main servant seemed to feel not quite at ease in the human pack at this place and after some time, she started packing our things in boxes again. We left the little house behind and went back to the rainy country where at first we stayed with some very nice people who adopted Tonto, our Spanish neighbour I had so much fun with every morning. He used to live in the paddock next to our little house, and we had a nice chat over the fence every morning. It was great to see him happy in his new home with his new friend - and our friend - Kyan. Kyan is a tough guy and very strong, we had tons of fun going on walks together. He's a kind of furry bulldozer. 
Our next house was a very big old house in a place with lots of houses and people, but when we walked for a little while there was a forest and open fields, just like the campo. Only we weren't allowed to walk off the leash there, because there were little tasty critters in those fields that had some kind of government protection and weren't supposed to be eaten. Too bad because according to Gaia - who is our Tasty Critters That Live Underground expert - they smelled deeeeeeeeeeeelicious. 
We lived there in peace and quiet for a while and main servant was looking for a more permanent place to stay, when one day she brought another two-legger to the crib. He wasn't alone: with him came a big strong shepherd bitch with an attitude, called Bo, who set her mind on taking over my pack. Here came trouble! 


She had some very unusual ideas about pack order, and decided Midas and I were no longer on top of things. Midas was already very old at that time, and he just shrugged and let her be. But not me! She was not taking my place without a fight. And well, fights we had, plenty of them. Unfortunately I was usually the one ending up having stitches. So main servant started to keep us apart, especially when she was away to earn dog food money. 
The human that came with the bitch was a bit dodgy as well, there was definitely something wrong with him. I didn't like him but pretended because I didn't trust him. I don't even want to talk about living with them, only that one day he was out of sight (hoorray) and because Bo was  in a really bad mental state because of his erratic behaviour, she was out too (main servant drove her to people who took her in and gave her a new home). She was supposed to live with us and main servant spent a lot of time helping her to get her balance back, but that man wouldn't leave us in piece. Sadly, just a few months after we got back we had to say goodbye to Midas too. He got older and slower and didn't really care much about anything anymore, and one day me and main servant took him to the white coat people and they gave him something to sleep, very very long. When main servant and I went to see him again, he was lying in a strange smelling basket in a building with flowers (that were not meant for eating, as main servant had to point out to me) and he was very cold and stiff and not breathing anymore... I was very upset and so was main servant. She was crying and I just kept pressing my head against her and giving her kisses. Then I was left behind in the room for a moment and main servant took Midas to a big fire. I have never seen him since. But main servant talks about him a lot, and even wants to have his picture drawn on her body. Humans are strange creatures!

a dog needs a good teacher

Every dog needs a good teacher. Mine was Midas, a great black guy with a friendly face who could also be very fearsome to those who didn't know him. As a young girl I was more than happy to bounce in his trail on my tall skinny legs. He was already older, much older, his snout was all grey and he even had some white and greyish hairs on top of his head. When he wanted to make his point and felt I was a little bit slow on the uptaking, he would just grab me in the neck and fling me across the courtyard. Needless to say I was soon very quick on the uptaking. He tought me the ropes. Like, where to gain the best access to goodies stashed up on the kitchen counter, opening doors, finding the best spot to lie down in bed, and how to scare away unwanted visitors. When we were in the car he would guard us, growling at anyone stupid enough to come even near. I felt very safe around him. When the servants weren't around, he was the one to turn to. I tried to teach him a thing or two, like how to get scraps of food from between pavement stones, but he wasn't really interested. I later heard the servants say that he never experienced hunger, he was always fed properly. Well, in the first weeks after my momma stopped nursing me, getting food was always a challenge so I discovered the good of anything that crawls. The servants gazed in awe at my ability to slobber up every ant, caterpillar and other bug on the ground - and when I seized a butterfly from mid air, both the servants and Midas let out a gasp - of admiration, I presume. Well, practise makes perfect, you know. Dead bird is pretty tasty too and I just love a crispy, dried out rat. Both the servants and Midas would shake their heads at that and look at me with a very curious expression. Poor thing, the servants said. The rat was brutally taken out of my mouth by the main servant and one of her two-legged friends, as if it was something disgusting. Humans have a funny taste.

I must admit that Midas showed me much better treats, especially the ones they put in cans, boxes and on plates. And I loved playing and having mock fights with him, although he was always ready to make sure I still understood we were just mocking... 

I was getting pretty much used to all the comfort of snugging up in bed with our main servant as one day she left and I didn't see her for a long time. We had been to a gathering were the other two-leggers were that took me away from the place I was born, and many more dogs like me. The main servant walked some of the other dogs together with us, and one of those dogs was a quite silly guy named Guido. He got on my nerves a bit because each time the servant went for the human place to do peepee, he started hollering. But Midas kind of reassured him and didn't even bite his neck like he normally does. The two-leggers talked a lot about this dog, and somehow I got the feeling I hadn't seen the last of him. 
When my main servant finally showed up again, I was very happy to see her, although the other servant had taken good care of us. But then she went off again, and came back.. with the hollering galgo named Guido! I was very upset, so I really was expected to share my space with him?! We just needed to get used to each other, main servant said. But there was more to come. I overheard her talking about another galgo girl, one she took care of while she was away, and soon she would be coming to this place. One day Midas, Guido and I got packed into the car and off we went to a place with also many more dogs like us. There she was, a very scraggy, thin girl with lots of old wounds and bitemarks all over her. She looked at us with big frightened eyes and snarled at us. I decided to leave her. Midas gave her a kiss. We all had a little walk and then she got into the car with us, and lied there quivering all the way back to our house. It took me a long time to get used to her, because she was easily scared of many things, but as time went by, she got more courageous and now I am very careful not to step on her long toes, because she's no pussy! Main servant says she probably has decided no one is ever going to bite her anymore. 
So now I was sharing the bed, food and all attention with four other dogs, but soon things would change again and to my surprise, I would even find myself back in my old country!

My name is Luka...

and no, I don't live on the second floor. Sadly, I don't get upstairs much anymore, either, since my humble servant prefers to share her bedstead with one of these other two-legged creatures nowadays so I have to make do with her couch. Not bad, that couch, but still, doesn't come close to the comfort of tucking my head under the duvet and using my humble servant's body warmth.
Yes, I can hear you mumble things about counting my blessings. I know, I know. Where I come from, a duvet or even a safe place to sleep was way out of reach for my elegant long paws. I am a mixed breed galgo / greyhound. My momma was a race dog at the Meridiana tracks in Barcelona, and when she was taken to a dog shelter near Allicante she met up with my daddy, a stout galgo boy who was dumped by his boss, a hunter. I later heard my humble servant grumble about this reunion, as she feels dogs in a shelter should not be able to procreate as there are already many more than can be rehomed, but well, here I was, hiding with my momma under the roots of a carob tree, surrounded by many scary events until one fine day some people speaking a very funny language came and took me and another little galgo to a cold and wet country.


For a while I lived in their pack, with about a dozen other galgos and greys and some very strange little rabbits that made a kind of barking noise (later found out they were dogs after all, they were called she-whawhas). Then another lady came by, and I was taken to a new pack with 2 cats (seen them before, they had some at the other house as well), another small dog called Zorq and a really cool big older guy called Midas. He looked a bit like me, but then all grown up and slightly bigger build. I was very impressed with him and he turned out to be an excellent teacher (although the humble servant dared to differ on that point). He even introduced me to the so called 'Booswightenklup', a platform for naughty dogs to exchange experiences in dealing with the two-legged creatures we have as our servants. But I will tell you more about that later!

Welcome to Luka's World

Hi everybody,

Today is a big day - my first blog in which I will dictate my humble human servant (the lady who calls herself my boss) all there is I want to share about my life ! I'm looking forward to meet more kindred spirits at this place.