A lot has happened in our lives. It’s been very hard to write. You and Dad have spent a lot of time crying. Sometimes, your voices get very loud and then you cry some more. I don’t know who needs me more–you or Dad, so I go to my Daddy and put a paw up on his lap and look at him dolefully. He thinks we need to go outside, so he leashes me up and takes me out and, it’s true, it does make both of us feel better for awhile. Snow smells extra good when we walk outside. That helps too.

Your crying hasn’t stopped but it has diminished. (I have a very large vocabulary, in case you forgot).

We lost a human member of our family–my Uncle Josh. He loved me. I loved him. One of my predogcessors, Cedars, was buried with him. Cedars watched over Josh as long as he could.

I am an uncle to Biscuit, our new puppy, who came to live with us. I am learning to love Biscuit who is a little brown Beardie. He doesn’t play like a big dog yet, but I’m teaching him. He learns fast. He’s almost up on the window seat already, where we can look at the world together.

Biscuit is a happy spirit who makes us laugh. His whole name is Brown Biscuit, Liberty for All. He is way too small for me to crash around after him full bore around the house, but I keep trying anyway. I chase him, sliding around on the wood floor, and he hides under the dining room table, where he can’t reach me.

Biscuit shares his toys with me and I share my toys with him. We try to keep him in one place, but he is a very good climber, as you can see. Pretty soon, he’ll be able to climb over the gate.

Advice from Oliver: Humans need dogs and dogs need humans. We have learned to domesticate one another.