The Life And Adventures Of Leo, The Chinese Crested

Leo is a little dog, with a big life and a vivid imagination.

Leo and I were walking in the forest, when all of a sudden Leo spotted an UFO. He was very curious, and went over to sniff it out, and to greet the crew inside. They were not interested in conversations with us, and refused to come out of their vehicle. Leo got a little upset and hurt by their unfriendlyness, and jumped on top of their roof. He stamped his little feet, using morse code, to tell them that it was safe to come out, and that we only wanted to say hello. He feels that morse code is a very advanced technology, that most extra terrestials should be able to understand.
It didn't work, nobody came out, and we had to hurry along, before darkness fell upon us.

When I came home, I found Leo snuggled up on the sofa with this lamb. He was singing "Mary has a little lamb" to her, petting her and rubbing her belly gently.
He looked at me with big eyes, saying that the lamb had come walking in the door, all by herself, and could we please let her live with us. He feels a bit lonely sometimes, being the only animal in the houshold.
I told him I will think about it. Lambs tend to make a lot of mess, when living indoors.

Leo came home from school, beaming with pride and joy.
"Look what I made you in art class, I made an advent decoration! I stripped the bark off a tree, then I weawed a basket from those strips, and then I decorated the basket with all the pretty things I found. It even has a Christmas bunny! I have been working on it all autumn. Isn't it beautiful? Are you proud of me? I can't wait for Christmas! Will I get many gifts? Will we go play all the time?"
Then he took off before I could even answer him, to go play with his friend, Nelly the neighbour.

Sometimes Leo likes to play Sultan. He reclines elegantly in a pile of soft silk cushions, to let his people take in the awsome view. He looks around majestically, and then he orders me to bring him mint tea, his waterpipe and some Turkish delight, and to wave an ostrich feather above his head, to cool the air for him.
He also makes me sing for him. He has a soft spot for Lebanese singer Fayrouz, and his favorite song is "Aatini al nay wa ghanni". He feels that that magnificent song is worthy of a Sultan's ears.

Leo's absolute favorite movie is "Ice Age". He can watch it again and again, and he laughs and cries, every time.
Sid the Sloth is his favorite character. He cries his heart out every time Sid's family leaves him, and says: "This is exactly what happened in my life. I was left again and again. I am so happy that now I have come to my forever home! Poor Sid, they don't love him. But you love me, right?"

Today Leo is invited to a fancy dress birthday party, and he has decided he wants to go dressed as Sid. I caught a glimpse of him practising his look, and I am very impressed. He does look like a sloth!

PS. He came home from the party, reporting that he had been the only sloth, among a bunch pirates, supermen and princesses

I went to pick Leo up from school, and found him sitting in a corner, all by himself. He was wet and muddy, and he was crying silently.
I sat down to comfort him, and asked what was wrong. "They bullied me. They called me bad names, and rolled me in the mud." Oh no, who did that to you?
"Polly the poodle said she has longer and prettier legs than I have, Howard the husky said that he is stronger and tougher than I am, Larry the labrador said he is a better retriever than I am, and Gerry the German Shepard said he is a better guard dog than I am."

I told him that they may be better at some things than he is, but he is much better at rapping and dancing hip hop than they are, and they might secretly be envious of his skills. That might even be the reason why they were bad to him. I told him to remember that everybody is good at something, but nobody is good at everything.

He felt comforted when hearing this, and then we walked home and had a cup of hot chocolate and a delicious bun in front of the fireplace.

Leo is a dedicated member of a local amateur theatre troupe.
Right now they are staging "Little Red Riding Hood", and Leo is auditioning for the part of grandmother/wolf. He has found a costume to get into character, and sits in front of the fireplace, rehearsing his lines.
When he was rehearsing yesterday, he suddenly started giggeling. More and more, he just couldn't stop. I asked what was so funny. "I have to get this part, I AM this part, after all, I descend from a big, scary and bloodthirsty wolf, it is in my DNA! But you, on the other hand, where do you come from? You come from the apes! Ho ho ho!" He laughed so much he fell out of the chair, and we had to take a break from his rehearsals and go out for some fresh air to cool down a little.

I woke up this morning by a little paw impatiently tapping my face. As I opened my eyes, I stared straight into Leo's face, just inches away from mine. He was so eager, he could hardly speak.
"I have to tell you, before I forget," he said. "I had the craziest dream last night! I was at the shoe amusement park. There were endless amounts of smelly socks to roll in, some of those socks had quite impressive scents! I even got a little dizzy from smelling them, it was so much fun! And there were shoes everywhere! Delicious, tasty shoes to throw around, to chew and to chase! And the biggest one, I could hardly believe my own eyes, was so big I could sit in it! I was engulfed in shoe smell! It was the best dream ever!!!"

Leo had a very sad face when he woke me up this morning. His eyes were red, and I could tell that he had cried.
I asked what was wrong, and he said: is it really true that I am ugly?
I wondered why he would think that about himself, and told him that to me, he is the most beautiful dog in the whole wide world.
"But don't you remember," he said, "when we met that lady last week, she gave me a quick look and declared that I was ugly and weird".
I told him that I remember, but we shouldn't care about people who are impolite. The fact that she is rude does not make him an ugly dog.
In order to make him feel good about himself again, we looked in his photo album. After a little while he cheered up, pointing at one photo after the other, saying: "here I look quite cute! This is sweet! Oh, I look almost like an angel in this one!"
Then, when this picture came up, he smiled from ear to ear, wagging his tail happily. "I look smashing! So handsome and pretty! I see now that I am not ugly, after all!"
Then he went out for his morning walk, head held high, feeling good and confident again!

I told Leo that he wouldn't get his weekly allowance until he had finished all his chores. He did not take these news well... His chores include cleaning up his room, doing his bed every morning, and emptying the dish washer twice a week. In addition he needs to help me fold the newly washed bed sheets and linnens.
He was not happy, and told me: all the other dogs' weekly allowance is twice as big as mine, and they don't even have to help at home! It's not fair, all they have to do is to look pretty! Why do I have to slave around like a dog?

Leo getting down and dirty, rehearsing his new hip hop routine.
The head spin is by far the most difficult move in this particular combination, and requires extra effort, dedication and hard work to master!

After his vigorous hip hop rehearsal yesterday, Leo felt a strong need to cool down and compose himself. He chose to retreat into the woods, letting the warm breeze fly trough his hair, while chanting "Om" and letting serenity fill his whole being.
It was indeed a good day for him!

In his recent fling with hip hop, Leo felt the need to go ALL the way in embracing that lifestyle. He thought it was important to explore the darker sides of hip hop as well as the more artistic sides, in order to fully understand it. He came home one evening, asking for drugs! As a non smoker and non drinker myself, I found it hard to help him. I simply wouldn't know where to get hold of that kind of stuff.
Then, I found a smelly old sock in a corner. I gave it to him, he inhaled eagerly, and passed out in his basket. Mission accomplished!
And by the way, he never asked for the sock again, he learned his lesson right then and there. Drugs are bad for you!