'The life I lead is the life of a dog'*

(* Dog's Life by Kottonmouth Kings)

I am not an animal person. I've got nothing against animals or pets but I have lived most of my life in apartments and have never been in the position of owning or being responsible for an animal. I admire them from afar but have never felt love for any particular animal.

Friends Ae and Hn, owners respectively of golden retrievers Ta and Ke, are currently cruising down the Mekong River in Cambodia and Vietnam and I have assumed minor responsibility for their care during this time. This amounts to feeding and walking them every second day. Ta is a grand old lady at 14 years who takes things casually and is of no threat to a novice like me. Ke, on the other hand, is 9 months old and frisky beyond belief. She happily jumps all over me or rather comes close to bowling me over as she stands on her hind legs and mauls me with her paws almost reaching my shoulders.

Ke was to have spent this period in a kennel but was diagnosed with Kennel Cough so the plans for professional doggy-sitting went out the window.

Anyway, if I say so myself, we (major carer and I) have done a good job of doggy-sitting and I'm sort of warming to both the dogs but still I can't imagine being up to owning one myself. Ke is more than a handful spending lots of time digging up Ae's back garden and artfully scattering fronds all over her front hallway. Here she is admiring her handiwork.