Duchess: My Four-Legged Writing Companion

This is Duchess, my writing companion. She’s been a faithful companion for the last couple years and so I thought it time to introduce her to you today. At first glance, Duchess looks soft and cuddly and she is. She’s also a Shih Tzu in the body of an 80lb Bernese Mountain Dog. Now, you may wonder how this full-figured lady manages to curl up next to me on this little furton futon. Well, I’m here to tell you--I’m still wondering that myself. If I manage to figure out how she does it, then I may be able to squeeze into last year's jeans. Maybe.

Over the years, I’ve noticed Duchess developing K9 superpowers:

• The ability to deliver the puppydog look that still works on me after 5 years. 

• The ability to always be up for a snack, unless it’s dog food. 

• The ability to keep me warm while I write (by sitting on my feet or napping next to me, sometimes on me). 

• The ability to not give a f*** if it’s sunny, raining, windy or snowing. 

• The ability to sneak up . . . well just the ability to sneak up should be a bullet point of its own considering her size. 

• The ability to sneak up on the couch and render me utterly powerless with the puppydog look. 

• The ability to listen to my bitching about everything. 

• The ability to scare the crap out of mail carriers to the point where they no longer get out of the mail truck, they just drive up and beep the horn when they deliver their packages. I'm lucky they haven't started throwing my packages out the window.

• The ability to produce genuine excitement every morning when she sees me. 

• The ability to drop enough dog hair on me and the couch to make onesies for an entire herd.

• The ability to produce silent, toxic smelling gases while in her sleep. 

• The ability to make this cat person also become a dog person. (:

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Do you have a writing companion of the four-legged variety (dog, cat, iguana. . .)? What’s their superpower? (: