Here's the events of last week that I relayed to LM in an email:

Our neighbors had to leave town suddenly (her mother died) and so they dropped off their fish in a bowl and Lizzie, the bearded dragon, in a big terrarium. Karma wished he could play with her, but I wasn't comfortable with it. Dan would have been up for it, but my fear was that Lizzie would find it stressful - no way to know. And I figure if someone asked me, while they were taking care of Karma, if we minded if Karma was introduced to their pet tarantula, I'd say no on the grounds that there was a chance it go poorly and no great up-side for Karma. So anyway, Karma was obsessed with Lizzie. And, I have no idea how, but he learned Lizzie's name in about 2 days. It's not as if we even talked about her all that much but a few times I guess we said "we should feed Lizzie" and then go over to the terrarium. But after 2 days anytime we said "Lizzie" in a sentence, Karma would turn his head to look at her. And he'd check on her first thing in the morning. Make a beeline for her before going out to pee or before eating his breakfast. But the cutest was that when we'd say "Karma - wanna go for a walk?" no matter where we were, he'd run into the den and stand by Lizzie as if to say "We have to bring Lizzie too." Which isn't me just making up a cute reason for it - it's what he does when I say it and he runs thru the house to find Dan so he'll come with us. Our neighbor didn't quite believe the stories I was emailing her and then when she came to pick her up, Dan & she were carrying out the terrarium and apparently Karma walked beside it with his nose pressed against the glass the entire time. She said it broke her heart.

Meanwhile, here's a semi-heart-breaking story: yesterday I took Karma to the pet-food-store to grab some treats and there was a huge display for something (kitty litter I think) and Karma made a bee-line for it. Which seemed odd b/c he usually makes a bee-line for the treat-bar. So I noticed that he started walking more slowly as he neared the display and that there was the picture of a full-sized cat at the bottom. So it genuinely looked like (if you had his bad eye-sight) a cat sitting on the ground. He inched over and started sniffing it like mad. Then waited. Then gave it a huge lick across the face. Then sat down next to it and wouldn't leave. I had to finally leash him up and take him away because it broke my heart. He wants his own pet so much.

Might have posted this before. Reminded of this while looking thru old photos. Years ago, when we were remodeling our house on Arozena, Dan staked out a spot that would be where Karma's pillow would go in the kitchen, and he had the builders bring a heating vent down to the floor so it would heat the spot. Karma very much enjoyed it, and as time went by, if the heat went off and he wanted more, he would take his paw and bang on the vent as if to say "darn thing is broken." (I know that's always my first attempt when appliances are broken - give it a good whack.) I've told Dan that he ALMOST thought of everything - he just didn't think of an on/off switch that Karma could bop with his paw.

Remember the tale of Karma finding our friend's two lost dogs? Well, hang on to your hats.

This morning our neighbor came by and said that her son was visiting with his little Aussie Shepard and the Aussie had escaped. They were frantic b/c the Aussie a) doesn't know the area and b) is skittish and won't come to anyone other than the son.

I was heading to the gym so Dan & Karma set out to case the neighborhood. Karma was told that there was a lost dog and he needed to find him. I didn't hold out much hope because Karma had never met the dog before so why would he know what to do? Ah, me of little faith.

I came back from the gym to hear the reunion tale. Apparently Dan & Karma walked around the neighborhood to no avail. When they returned to our yard, Dan watched Karma "take off" across our yard (large yard - 2 acres) and head down the creek at the end of our property. Dan thought "oh cr*p... Karma must have seen a coyote or bobcat again and I don't want him scratched up again" so Dan went after Karma and made his way partway down the creekbed until he found Karma standing on a vacant lot with the lost puppy. Dan called for the puppy who was terrified of Dan, but the puppy wouldn't leave Karma's side. So Dan finally called Karma and when Karma came, the puppy stuck right by Karma and came too. They all walked to the edge of our property and Dan told Karma to wait and not lose the puppy and Dan ran over to the neighbors who ran back to find Karma sitting and waiting with the Aussie inches from his side, also calmly waiting.

This isn't a story about Karma, but it is a story about one of Karma's good friends named Mona. She was a rescue dog and belonged to our masseuse. We knew our masseuse was going to visit her family in Germany for a few weeks and that Mona was staying with some friends of hers (Josh & Nina) who we had met in passing a few times because they also had a Ridgeback. As with a lot of rescue dogs, Mona was scared of people she didn't know - especially men. While Josh & Nina were at work, some sort of worker (gas-man or gardener - i can't remember) came by and opened the gate. Well, Mona freaked out and dashed out the gate and took off. When Josh arrived home, Mona was nowhere to be found. Poor Josh and Nina spent the next 36 hours driving around town looking for her. (We, of course, have no idea this is going on.)

Cut to our house. At the time we lived in Carpinteria and on this particular day Dan decides he's going to drive into town and take Karma for a hike. Keep in mind that it had probably been a year since Dan had done this. So Dan drives to town and then at the last minute decides to go to a different trail than he had anticipated, for no particular reason. Karma & Dan are hiking along when Dan sees a dog that looks suspiciously like Mona run full-speed up to Karma and lie on her back and start licking Karma's face. When Dan got closer he saw that it actually was Mona and so Dan expected that any minute he'd see Josh come walking down the hill. They waited. They saw some people come down the hill who said "we saw that dog earlier but she wouldn't let us near her. I don't think she's with anyone." Well now Dan is putting it together that Mona slurped up the water he put down for her in a way that implied she hadn't had anything to drink in a while, was incredibly tired but panicky, so Dan brings her down the hill and puts her in the car and drives her back to our place. I put down food and she inhales it. (Keep in mind that Karma is easy-going but he's really not a fan of other dogs eating out of his food-bowl but when I put food down for Mona, Karma backed up into the hallway as if to say "she needs to eat.")

After she eats, Mona collapses on the floor and falls asleep immediately. I try to get her to move to the couch but there's no moving her. I bring a dog pillow and set it beside her but she won't even get up to get on that. I spend the next half an hour pulling ticks off the poor dog while trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to find Josh & Nina when I don't know their last name.

Because there always are 6 degrees of separation, I finally remember that their Ridgeback is from a local breeder and that the breeder's brother owns a surf store locally. I call the surf store and fortunately the brother is there and when I explain the situation he gives me Josh's number. I call Josh who is driving around in his truck, with Nina in the passenger's seat and say "Hi Josh. I'm Karma the Ridgeback's mom ... we have Mona" which is met with screams and squeals of joy/relief.

So here's what we all still marvel over: a) that Dan would chose that day and that trail (which was about 20 miles from Josh's place) and b) that it would be Dan because anyone else Mona would have run away from. It's pretty wild, and makes one believe in more than just coincidence.

Back when we lived in Carpinteria and had a pool that we built. Because we custom built it, and had a very deep, deep end, we had the builders put in a security step in the deep end of the pool. That way if someone got a cramp, or got tired, while in the deep end, they could sit there and catch their breathe or even easily get out of the pool.

Cut to our friends Todd & Amy came up from LA with their kids Jasper (5ish) and Cole (approximately 18 months). Karma, of course, watched the boys like a hawk. They all spent the first hour or so in the pool - Cole with his blow-up wings and his parents holding him. Eventually everyone got out of the pool and Todd & Dan went off to chat somewhere and I went into the kitchen to make lunch (yes - these stories always seem to happen when I'm making lunch - odd.) At some point Amy came into the kitchen and the kids and Karma stayed outside. Amy was talking about how nice it was now that Jasper was older so she didn't have to keep a constant eye on the boys.

Right at that minute, Karma comes racing into the house, frantic. I look out the window and see that Cole is standing on the security step in the deep end of the pool. We ran out and Amy grabbed him before he fell into the deep end and I have to think we have Karma to thank for that.

Did I mention - best babysitter ever.

Years ago we had a friend visit from France with her 4 kids, one of whom was an infant. When they arrived at the beach house Karma was smitten and so excited. While the mom watched the 3 older kids frolic on the beach I took over care of the baby and Karma decided that since in dog-world possession is ten-tenths of the law, the baby was now ours - oh happy day.

At one point I put the baby in his baby-snoozer-seat on the couch because he was asleep and I needed to make lunch for everyone. (Don't worry - I could see him and it wasn't far away.) Karma immediately got up on the couch next to the baby and curled up. Only the first few times he ended up curled with his butt to the baby and that was not satisfactory to Karma, so he kept getting up and trying again until he finally figured out how to curl up with his face next to the baby-sleeper. About 5 minutes in, I see that the baby has opened his eyes and is probably very confused about where he is, so he starts to let loose with one of those baby wails that will go on and on for 30 minutes without stop. I start to go over to him but I suddenly see Karma's head pop up and Karma licks the kid across the face. The baby stops crying immediately and looks stunned. But he's not crying anymore. And I wait and watch as Karma then proceeds to slowly lick the baby's arm to lull him back to sleep and it works.

Best baby-sitter ever. Sad part was when they left and I handed the baby back to his mom to put him in the car and Karma just stood there and stared at me for the longest time with this absolutely aghast look as if to say "What are you doing? He was OURS!"

I don't think it's unusual for animals, but Karma really does enjoy music. MOST music. He loves to listen to Dan play guitar. When Dan & I were taking swing-dancing lessons and would practice at home, Karma thought that was just the BEST. Except that Karma always wanted a turn. He'd let us do one dance and then he'd come over and insist that Dan dance with him. Dan would get on his knees and Karma would jump up and put his front paws on Dan's shoulders and they would "dance". Granted their moves never got too elaborate.

What I have noticed is that Karma HATES rap. If we're in the car, Karma is generally snoozing in the back. But if a rap song comes on the radio, Karma wakes up, sits up, and glares. Once the station is changed, he calmly lies back down. He is NOT amused and lets me know it.

Last month my mother and sister gave me a present and on the top was a stuffed animal that if you pressed a button played "In Da Club" by 50 Cent with the lyrics "It's your birthday, we gon' party like it's yo birthday..." Made me laugh. Made Karma moan. He was quietly lying on his pillow as we had lunch and opened presents and when I pressed the button he let loose with a long, low moan.

It's all a matter of taste.

OK, all puppies are cute. No question about that. And every owner will tell you that their puppy was the cutest. Well.... I am no exception. But I'm not the only one who thought that Karma was unusually cute.

Keep in mind that I've never had a dog before Karma. So when we got the Karma-pup it was all new to me. We were living in Los Angeles and I took baby-Karma for a walk on one of his first days home. We're casually walking down the block and a police car drives past, comes to a screeching halt, cuts across the road to pull up and cut us off. Two policemen leap out of the car, grabbing their holsters as they go (in retrospect it was just a move to adjust them as they leapt out of the car - to me it appeared threatening) and what goes thru my mind is "What have I done wrong?!?! I have my poop bags, he's on a leash, he has his shots, we're on the sidewalk...."

The policemen run up to me saying "what kind of dog is that? that's the cutest puppy we've ever seen!!!!!"

Eventually my heart started beating at a regular pace. But really - couldn't they have known that would be super scary?

Granted, I should have known that my cute puppy could stop traffic.

Karma has always been very tolerant, and willing to do whatever we ask, no matter how ridiculous. I don't even think that at the time, we knew how ridiculous our decision to have him potty-train in a litter box was, but looking back on it... what were we thinking? Well, we did live in a condo on the 3rd and 4th floors in West Hollywood at the time. It was 4 flights and thru a courtyard and out a gate to any sort of grassy area, or area where he would be allowed to pee/poop. So, being OH SO CLEVER, we set up one kitty-litter-box on the patio on the 3rd floor and one on the patio on the 4th floor. What could be more simple? Well - he's a DOG. Granted, he was a little puppy. But still - he was still close to the size of the box himself.

More ridiculous? I thought it was a nightmare that it took him an ENTIRE week before he stopped having accidents in the house and always "did his business" in the boxes. Yeah. Turns out that's not such a long time. And, did I mention, he learned to do it in a friggin box.

Back when we lived in Carpinteria, our neighbors held a VERY large Christmas party. 200+. We were invited, and happily walked over. Leaving our pup behind in our comfy house, inside a fully fenced (8-foot tall wood fence) yard. Cut to us, happily chatting with friends and chowing down on food, and someone walks over and says "Karma's here." What?!?! Sure enough, Karma is wandering around the crowds of people. Turns out he does NOT like to miss a good time. The valet parkers said they heard a loud BANG (that would turn out to be a large section of our wood fence being butted down by hard-headed Karma) and then saw a dog running down the street and straight into the party house.

Needless to say, not a single neighborhood party since that time has occurred without at least one person mentioning them time that "Karma crashed the party."