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!