And introducing…

…the newest member of the hordes:

This is my parents’ dog, Beardo (that’s not his real name, but I think his real name is stupid, so I call him Beardo because of his beardy face). They adore him, I don’t really. It’s not his fault, I think I’ve just finally admitted to myself that I’m nowhere near a dog person. I mean, aesthetically, I agree that he’s cute, I just don’t want him around me (he just keeps looking at me with those eyes…).

I’ve also discovered that it’s probably a good thing that I’m an only child. Whenever I’m over and Beardo’s there, too (he went to dog camp while I was housesitting earlier this month), it’s a fairly constant litany of ‘Mom, Beardo’s looking at me,’ ‘Make him stop touching me,’ ‘He’s in my seat,’ and ‘Beardo’s doing something I don’t think he’s supposed to do.’

My cats don’t like him about as much as I don’t, though Arthur is getting braver and at least coming downstairs to look at him every once in a while (Beardo’s on a lead inside the house while he’s adjusting to the cats’ presence so that if he tries to chase, he can only go so far…). Josephine tried a couple of times, but there was a lunging incident and I think that’s sort of put her off him.

Not that I blame her.