Life is good. It could always be worse.

Hi everyone, Pema here.

Over my almost 14 years, I’ve learned a lot of things about this world of ours like kibble tastes best in the mountains, never stand when you can lie down, swim whenever possible, hike always without complaint, and mountain water tastes the best…especially in the Balkans.

A few weeks ago, I also learned a new lesson (Who said you can’t teach old dogs new tricks?): Don’t mess with the sheep of a Montenegrin Shepherd, or even get near them.

I really didn’t mean any harm. My family and I had done a great hike the day before, about 8 miles or so, climbing up a few thousand feet through forests and fields and then back down again to a lake and a little katun by a river. Our host, Miško, was so nice and made us all yummy food – I got to munch on some prosciutto and even drink a bit of milk and yogurt! Anyway, we had a good sleep, and the next morning I was walking up to our katun with my brother and sister - sniffing the good sniffs and loving the mountains beneath my paws – when out of nowhere a gigantic ball of fur with an attitude problem bowled me over and chomped me on the side. He yelled something, I think, about his sheep and his job and stuff like that, but I was mainly worried about my family, so I bit back the best I could (maybe all those rock years didn’t help my teeth when it comes to defense) and got him to go away. But, he left a pretty big hole in my side, and although I wasn’t too worried, my family sure seemed to be.

Before I knew it, we were heading out of the mountains and back to Berane to a vet none of us liked so much. Then, we went down to the big city, Podgorica, where we met a great dog doctor, Dr. Marco, who got me all fixed up. About a dozen stitches later – and a long time of being really, really sleepy and wobbly and unable to control my bladder – I felt kinda good as new. And, now, I’m all back to normal, swimming and running and eating and sleeping.

Life is good. It could always be worse.