Mandy's friend

I got Mandy as a puppy over a year ago; we hadn't had her more than a month before the next-door neighbors acquired a puppy they named Buddy.  Because the two dogs were babies together, they  became pals to the bitter end.  At first I fought it, and tried to chase Buddy home.  Then I decided to let him come around, but ignored him as much as possible.  To me, he's a homely creature; besides, if I so much as glance at him, Mandy is jealous, in spite of how much she likes him. 

This is the sight that greeted me when I looked out my door at 9 this morning.

I lock Mandy in her pen in the barn overnight; often, when I go out in the morning to turn her loose, Buddy is getting up from beside her pen, stretching and yawning.  He's spent the night again.

These two clowns have given me more genuine laughs in the past year than anyone has a right to.  They're a nuisance in many ways, but they team up to do such funny things:  for instance, we turned into our drive the other day just in time to see Mandy carrying a croquet mallet home in her mouth... and the two dogs then played tag with that thing for hours.

You'll notice how skinny Buddy is.  I mentioned to Cliff today that I'm thinking of perhaps feeding him.  After all, he's here half the time, and people will think he's our dog, and that we're starving him.  Cliff just shook his head.  He gets tired of Buddy peeing on all the tires around here.  And boy, do we have tires, what with seven tractors, a car, a pickup and a motorcycle.  Oh, and a couple of lawn mowers.

But hey, the dog is here, whether we like it or not.  Dog food isn't that expensive.  

We'll see.