Smells like pack

Mungo and I have come to New Mexico to visit Nixie, who is housesitting for three dogs. We arrived Thursday evening. The giant dog, Hank, is very easy-going. He barked at our arrival, then decided that everything was fine. The middle-sized dog, Kya, would not stop barking, especially at Mungo. The smallest dog, Maisie, is very shy. (Maisie would be the biggest dog in my household: she is collie-sized.)

( the giant dog )

The next day, Nixie and Mungo got up early to go on a long hike with coworkers from Bandelier National Monument. They were gone until evening, but all the dogs, even the shy one, accepted my presence. When Nixie and Mungo came back, Kya kept barking at both of them.

"Are you afraid of the hat?" Nixie asked. She took off her hat. Kya kept barking. "Does she think I'm you and you're me?" Nixie asked me.

I think she did!

Nixie and I look a lot alike. Once when I picked her up from an after-school activity, a woman I had never met before said, "You must be Nixie's mom," as soon as I walked in the door. I think we must seem similar in a dog's sensorium too, even though we don't live in the same house or use the same shampoo. My anxious dog Aiko, who refused to go for walks without me, would go with Nixie on her visits home from college.