Hello, my name is Raven. I am a black Briard puppy. That is some type of French Sheep Dog, although I don’t know what a sheep is. I am a year and a half old and not as big as I should be and I don’t have really long silky hair, like I see in the poster of my dad that hangs in the computer room, but I am about as cute as they come. I haven’t learned French yet but I understand English and Spanish and have learned how to put my lips together just right to get that great French sound EEEUUUUOOOOOOW. I live on a big farm in Spain with my adopted family with lots of room to run and animals to play with but my garden scares me just a little so I like to take my teddy out with me so I feel safe. I think some of the big trees follow me around and move when I’m not looking, like triffids do and I know that there are ghosts in the garden and others in the house. Charlie, my teacher and friend, tells me to ignore them but I can’t. My best friend is called Lasso. Lasso is always waiting for me, hanging from a tree outside the bedroom door and never gets tired of playing tug of war with me. I have a toy-box full of my favorite things and I know the names of each one and can find it when I am asked. My best one is called pretty ball; mom and dad got it for me from a Chinaman on the beach. It is a ball full of water with a light that glows and sparkles when I drop it. I actually have three because I need to have spares for when I can’t remember where I left one of them. There’s another one I like, only not to touch my mouth if you know what I mean: it’s a light-up squidgy toy.
I am a little hyperactive and scared to be alone so I like daddy to come outside with me when I have to pee, especially if it is dark outside. He just says “whizz” and I am there waiting at the door.
Lately, I have found some other Briards trying to sneak into my house. There is one upstairs on the shiny closet door and he barks at me and growls when I do, another is downstairs in the bathroom. I see him when I brush my teeth or try and get a drink of water. When I look away, I see birds and when I look back there he is again, looking at the birds in the aviary behind me in the window. Then, there is the one that looks down on me in the pig’s bathroom, I can only see the tip of his nose but he is there every time I look. We have been cleaning around the pool the last few weeks; I do hope they fill that big water hole this year; it looks like so much fun; anyway, while we were cleaning I found lots of Briards in the pool house, looking out through the windows at me. They aren’t quite as pretty as the ones inside of the house; they are sort of dirty and grey, a little blurry even.
I have to admit that I am a little bit too rough on the cats and the chicken but they don’t seem to mind, it is just that mama brought two new animals up to the stables; one looks just like me with long black hair on its feet and tail, although it’s a girl and she is huge. I love to go to the stables because I play -run round-round- then I run into a stall and jump on these new animals but they don’t seem to want to play with me and it makes mama yell at me. They just eat grass which, as anyone knows, you only eat when you want to be sick.
I know a few things, other than all my toys and a whizz, and they are called “OUT OF THE KITCHEN”, Daniel taught me that by picking me up and removing me. I will never forget that, the other is called “it is Titus’ turn”. Titus is Daniel’s dog, a big Mastín Leones. He isn’t as big as the animals at the stables but he is BIG. When I was little he would let me play with him but now that I am almost grown up he doesn’t seem to like me anymore, so every time mama says “Titus’ turn” I go and lie down in a corner and wait for her to come back.
I think when I’m not listening, daddy calls me Raving and I know the Spanish call me Ray Ban.
One day, somebody’ll bring me a sheep.
