At least that is the gospel according to Jojo who has crowned himself new king of the universe. Looking like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, his transformation from the live toy of the mastiff into boss of the world was quite interesting. After his confrontation with Scharnelle he decided he liked being top dog and has ensured–at least in his own mind–that he stayed there.
His new-found courage has made him cheeky to the point of trying to eat your sandwich from your hand and telling Scharnelle where she can sit. Since Scharnelle is either polite or needs glasses she is batting him aside only now and then. The rest of the time she concedes just to keep him out of her face. Wrestling can be problematic for them both, so the new game is stealing toys from each other. Scharnelle waits until Jojo is looking the other way, but Jojo is happy to latch onto the bottom of it and swing until she gives up. He has gone from the timid newcomer to the small dog with a big dog ego and Scharnelle is left her disapproval as only a mastiff can. The house is now the new battleground where their endless power struggle will be eternal because Jojo is relentless and Scharnelle hasn’t noticed the change in status and probably never will!
When I was young a mysterious package arrived from my great grandmother. I opened it with hopeful expectations only to discover a rather tatty and very old book. She enclosed a small note saying this had been a family favorite and she hoped I enjoyed as much as my grandmother and mother had. Since my mother had neglected to tell me about any books she had enjoyed as a child I threw the book into the back of my bookshelf and ignored it for months.
