Hello all my woof-tastic friends and hoomans!

In case you don’t follow me on Twitter, I get myself into quite a bit of trouble yesterday.

Mom, Mackenzie and I had been out for our late afternoon walk and we hadn’t run into any other dogs. Mom threw a ball for me several times, and even let me chase it into and over the stream…but I was itching for more action.

As we neared the end of the path where it turns back into streets and houses, I realized that my arch enemy, Biene the Hunting Dog, was out in her yard. I think I’ve mentioned her before but whenever I go by her yard she barks the most offensive things at me. She talks about my weight, my black fur, my happy expressions… Usually I just shake off her bad vibes and go about my business. But today Amelie, the Golden Retriever who lives across the street from Biene, was also outside.

Mom apparently doesn’t have my keen senses or she would have known that this was a disaster waiting to happen. But she didn’t hear Biene outside and she thought Amelie was safely in her house. So as we approached, Amelie ran like crazy up and down Biene’s fence and really got us all riled up. Mom kept telling me to keep me head cool, telling me to “leave it” so we could get home. But then Biene started talking bad about my humans…and Amelie laughed… And suddenly Amelie was getting yelled out by her human, too, who was approaching us. I just couldn’t let it go.

So I charged over to the two of them and started giving them both a real earful. Unfortunately, I forgot that mom had my leash slung around her body and once I finally got us both off the sidewalk and gained control, she was drug a few feet behind me across the very rough street.

Needless to say that did not go over well…and mom probably would have given me the savage beating of a lifetime if Amelie’s mom hadn’t been so close by.

I really think mom just wanted to cry at that point, because it seemed to have been pretty painful—but she managed to keep it together until we got home. I think she was also pretty furious that Amelie’s mom didn’t apologize at all for her dog being loose (again) and provoking the incident. In fact, she actually told mom that she should have just let me go (Du musst einfach los lassen.) I kinda think mom wanted to slug her right then. How exactly does one let go of a dog that is wrapped around their body? And if Amelie had not been outside in the first place, running loose, then I wouldn’t have gotten nearly as worked up. We were actually almost past all the commotion until Amelie’s mom came out and called Amelie back (which did nothing). I think that was just the final straw for me.

Don’t look at the next few images if you’re squeamish or have a weak stomach. But I just wanted to share mom’s road rash with you:

Mom's left hand which took the brunt of the fall. It's still hurting her quite a bit and makes it hard for her to pick up stuff. Had some serious pieces of gravel in there.

Mom's right hand which thankfully was only slightly injured and is much better today.

Mom's left knee. She says please ignore her pasty white color... and the blue coloring is now gone. It actually looks worse than it hurts

Mom would like this to serve as a warning message to anyone who has a giant breed or is thinking about getting one. Lots and lots of training is required with us dogs…even with smaller dogs.  Dogs need boundaries and limitations, and if they are big dogs that weigh more than you, they must respect you and your commands. My behavior yesterday was totally unacceptable and I have been sulking around the house since it happened. I definitely know I screwed up and hopefully I can keep my head together in the future. Otherwise dad is probably going to ship me off to Abu Dhabi.

Somehow karma was still on my side this morning, because just as we were getting to the end of the main street, my friend Maya and her mom appeared. Major score!! So we played and ran and played some more. Our walk ended up being nearly an hour long…which is double the usual time. It was so fabulous.

And now that I’ve told my story, I will resume my position sprawled out on my back in the entry way on the cold terrazzo floor. Here I can stay out of trouble and continue giving mom her space since I know her left hand and her knee are still kinda hurting her.

Until next week…when I should have plenty to report about our mini-vacation in the snow!

Sloppy Newfie kisses,

Ayla