Medium Girl.

12 January 2002

This is Ricki, our four year old Bichon Frisé.

Sometimes she's a Good Girl. Sometimes she's a Naughty Girl. We thought about it, and decided that when you average it all out, she's around a Medium Girl. Except occasionally she can be extra bad, so the average can drop to Medium-Low Girl sometimes. Like the other morning when she wouldn't stop barking her head off at the man who came to fix our guttering downpipe. Or like any time she finds people food and hides in her bed with it.

We love her, though. I chase her around the dining room table when she's feeling frisky. This usually happens when I take the rubbish out and open a new plastic bin liner. She likes to run away from plastic bags for some reason. She makes a neat sound as she goes round and round the table. Sometimes I can just stand there shaking the empty bag - I don't even have to chase her.

I can only assume she enjoys it because she's the one who always starts it. I'm happy to just replace the bin liner and sit down.

We also have other names for her:

• Small White Dog (after a bath)
• Small Grey Dog (usually)
• Numb Nutz
• Spaz
• Nuff Nuff
• Dog-like Substance
• Poo Eater (sometimes, when we're not watching)

I wasn't sure if I should include that last one. But then I thought, other dog owners would understand. Wouldn't they?