Meet Patrón. She’s My other dog; another pup my son left with me. She and I went for walks this weekend to tire her and distract her a little from the loss of her “brother,” Brutis. She’s restless and not sleeping well since we lost him. I don’t think she’s eating well either, but she can use a little less food (like her “mom”). 🙂

She’s a good girl and a happy girl and loves to have her belly rubbed. She comforts me when I cry. She is afraid of the vacuüm cleaner, too. If I ever need to get her outside voluntarily, all I have to do is start that thing. While Brutis was afraid, he always stayed close to protect me from that horrible machine, just in case. Patrón feels no such responsibility. She runs and disappears for as long as I’m pushing that machine through the house.

Brutis was a nervous boy and wasn’t all that friendly to other people or animals—although he was a love to me and a select few others. I imagine a lot of his nervousness was because of me and my worry about what he might do. Over the years, I kept him protected from situations where he’d be uncomfortable. While I was happy to do that for him, it kept us from doing as many things as we might have over the years. Patrón and I can travel and visit and I won’t have to worry about her snapping at someone because she’s afraid. She’ll roll over and invite you to rub her fat ol’ belly. She is a friendly little girl, and I can take her anywhere. Now I will.

I miss Brutis so much, but I have Patrón to entertain me and keep me company. She’s a really sweet girl. And, she’s a funny girl, too. She has beautiful markings and reminds me of a lion, the way she lopes and swings her head back and forth. She also has a tuft of long hair just at the top of her shoulders.

In this picture, I tried to capture the “hunter” in action—but every time I hit my knees to get a face-on shot of her at a distance, she ran back and threatened to slobber on my lens.

Patrón