
My owner was going to visit her father at his home in New Hampshire, and I was not invited. Instead, I went to spend the week with Aunt Margie and my country cousins, Ella and Leo, in Ojai.
As would anyone who falls into a roiling sea, I followed my first instinct and jumped onto something that seemed secure -- in this case, Aunt Margie's sofa -- from which I reviewed my new surroundings and companions.
Being an only dog, and a citified one at that, I was a bit intimidated by Ella and Leo's wild ways. Yet at the same time I found myself intrigued by their food. In fact, I refused to eat my own food, while covetously eying Leo's. Meanwhile Leo was interested in my food. It was a classic greener-grass situation, as we both pined for each other's dish.
Aunt Margie couldn't stand the idea that I might starve on her watch. She cosseted me, tempting me with little morsels of Leo's food and putting my dish next to her while she worked, so that I could eat at close range.

That helped. After we had a Skype session with my beloved, I felt better still.

With the encouragement of my empathetic hostess, I began to venture around the property.
By my owner's return I had loosened up quite a bit.


Still, any new environment is stressful. Though I had enjoyed my fresh-air stay among the country folk, it was a relief the day my owner came to pick me up and bring me home to my own sofa and my very wonderful bluffs.
