Letter to our Guestdog

August 10/10....6:42 p.m.

Dear mad Max,

I know that it is not your fault! It is not your fault that , being a Labrador-Hovawart-Collie mix, the Labrador has taken the upper hand, in looks and in behavour. You are sweet and affectionate and you can not help it that you love the water. And I do NOT love a dirty smelly dog in the car and neither does Herr Hund, who growls and dislikes it more and more when you join him in the back of the car wet like a cat.  So we are now into the business of outsmarting each other, up to now you have won every time, I must shamefacedly admit.  First time it has been the river, lucky you,  second time I decided to take a walk on a path next to a fenced off meadow. You found a hole and the river.  Third time a big,  muddy puddle had been welcome and Herr Hund and Landfrau watched in amazement, how you lowered yourself into the mixture, like a camel lowering itself in the desert. But today I thought I had outwitted you, drove with the car to a path far away from the river, dry as death valley but you found a tiny muddy hole nevertheless and managed to put all 4 feet into it. Max , you are a genius and we have 7 more days to go and I am sure you will me show so much more muddy holes and water where I would have never have guessed that it excists. But aside from that I love you....Your  foster mother