The car window was open and suddenly she was out and I braked.  O God.  Is she alive? Yes, but one of her legs is twisted.  Off to the vet.  No, it can’t be saved.  So that’s how Hikari ended up as a tripod.  She manfully (bitchfully?) trundles along, indominatable, always ready when there’s noise in the kitchen because SOMEONE not her is probably getting scraps of food and how dare they.  The one good thing that came out of the window adventure is that now when she’s in the car she is flat on the seat.  Lessons learned.

We call her the love burrito when she’s up on the bed.  She looks around, vaguely surprised to be higher than others, very much pleased at that state; and snuggles next to Nate.  She’s also the floor alligator when she’s on the ground, and the lawn alligator when she’s in the front yard.  The front yard is fun:  she and Oso romp and do the Shiba-Akita 500 around and around and around the fenced perimeter.  There’s grass to be eaten, and next door cats to be stared at, and people walking by from whom to receive pets.  And there’s Trixie, the cat next door, who is not particularly dog-oriented and with whom both Oso and Burrito are enamored.  They will stand with heads through the fence slats, staring.  She once got her head through and was trying for the rest of her body (which would never happen; she’s far too stocky) and we had to extricate her.  She likes the front yard a lot.

She’s bossy and she likes attention. If she feels insufficient attention is being paid she will thoughtfully chew on something she shouldn’t and then look at whichever of us is in the room.  Did you notice that?  Did you like that rug/shoe/chair leg?  You did?  Well, what about me?  DO YOU LIKE ME?”  We like her and love her; we tolerate her behavior and work to change it.

Once a gentleman at Home Depot stopped and asked “Would you take a picture of the two of us?”  He too was missing a leg; blown off in Afghanistan.  If we could have cloned Burrito we would have done so then and there.

Her real name is Hikari but lately she’s been nothing but Burrito.  Burrito, Burrito, Burrito; our staunch, trying, lovely Burrito.