Maisie

This is me and my best friend Maisie. She's a Jack Russell and really beautiful! When I visit Maisie we play and play and play and then have a rest. Then, after we've had a little rest we play some more! In the photo I'm showing Maisie a 'play-bow' that means I want her to play with me. It's a different sort of bow than the one I give my Mum and Dad when they've been out. That's called 'the greeting - I love you stretch'. My Mum read about the 'I love you' stretch in a book called 'canine body language' by someone called Brenda Aloff. When she read about the 'I love you' stretch she got on the floor and sent a stretch to me. I sent one straight back and my Mum went all soppy and gave me a big hug. Now we give each other 'I love you' stretches all the time.
Mum and Dad never shout or smack me. Mum says shouting is human barking and just winds dogs up (a lot of things wind me up!). She also says that smacking or hitting does not make a dog see the human as an 'effective leader' and anyway who wants a dog to do as it's told just
because it's frightened? That's what she tries to teach people to do...be an effective leader. I really try to see Mum and Dad as 'effective leaders' but sometimes I just can't help trying to lead myself!