Mountain dog

We had a visitor yesterday afternoon. As you can see, Darcy looks a lot like our R.

Darcy is about 1 year old. He and R play absolutely non-stop - completely wild, unbridled, top-speed playing - and they both love it.The photo below was of R during a play session with Darcy.

They move so fast that I normally can't get a camera focused on them. Yesterday, the Runner switched their collars. Normally, Darcy's is blue and R's is red, and that's how we tell them apart when they're moving so fast. Both Darcy's human and I fell for it. It wasn't until our friend started to take "Darcy,  the blue-collared dog" home that we realized the trick because R refused to go with him. That was the "ah ha" moment. Hehe.

Now, K gets worried about the raucous play when Darcy comes to visit. Her fearfulness around the house is still growing. She's recently become afraid of her food bowl. Sometimes, she refuses to eat from it unless I sit on the floor next to it. That's fine - I'll do whatever our girl needs right now. I think that the shifting of the bowl on the floor scares her so I'm going to get a heavy ceramic bowl that won't shift as she eats. And, I'm going to get the vet to check her out this week to see if there's anything fixable that might make her feel less afraid around the house. She's fine when she's snoozing... but, at other times, she occasionally becomes paralyzed with fear.

Throughout her whole life, fearfulness has accompanied illness for K. Consequently, it worries me that the fearfulness is growing. But, thank goodness, she's not afraid of anything outdoors.

When other dogs aren't around, she'll race her brother.

And, her soft eyes exude confidence when she's out in the mountains.

Out in the mountains is where we're both the happiest, even when storms loom on the horizon.

I think that K is a "mountain dog" and I'm a "mountain girl". A good match...