Dear Everyone:

You think it's just a coincidence that Mr. Randy Dandy shares Prince William's birthday? Unlikely. The boy obviously has Royal Blood and papers to prove it. 

Not that I feel inferior in any way. I mean, what's in a name? Particularly the breeder he came from. My pedigree shows and I don't need papers to prove it. Still, a paper trail now and then wouldn't hurt....and I don't mean yesterday's Nice Matin that I use in the morning. 

At any rate, the Ol' Rand continues to flourish. Bernard, his French "Dad," has told us that Randy has become so accustomed to French haute cuisine that he absolutely insists on eating exactly what the table is serving, i.e. if the potatoes have grated parmesaan on them, he wants the Italian flakes on his too! Oh yeah, none of this Eukanuba dirt nuggets for the Rand. He's total Table d'Hôte or nothing. 

At any rate, we stopped by to wish him a happy Juno Uno! (This being his 1 year anniversary) and gave him a leather dog booty (Jojo's and my favorite chew toy) and a new stuffed animal that goes squeek. In all due humility, no one can make a squeek toy go squeek the way yours truly --i.e. Juli the wonder dog---can. But I couldn't think of anything he'd would like better since he's dining every night on leg of lamb and raw chopped steak. (Yeah, the French actually eat that stuff!) Susan's out of the red meat stuff so we get mostly rotisserie chicken for our treats. 

So, Jo, Randy and I had a good romp. He obviously loves us and always wants to come with us when we leave. He and Susan sure do have this special connection. But, I got her first, and I'm pretty much a full time job, ......did I type j-o-b? I meant to type j-o-Y. At any rate, I've got full-time custody of Susan and Randy gets visitation rights. That's the way the dog bone splinters. He's lucky I share her. 

Otherwise, Nice is really nice. But hot-oh-hot-oh-hot. Even with our cold-blooded natures, we have to stay in until later in the day. Otherwise we dehydrate, and let's face it, there ain't a whole lot in us to dry up. 

JoJo is turning into quite a good friend. She is a lot more hip than when I first arrived. I couldn't believe that girl was only five years old. Speaking of romps. I don't think she had had one in years. Of course I fixed all that. She actually got growling last night when we were playing and almost gave me a run for my money.

 I say "almost" because after all, I am known as "Juli the Looley" in the ring. And since Jo and I weigh in in different divisions, I still have to go easy on her. What, with that gimp leg of hers...plus being a girl...well, I don't want to sound chauvinistic but you get the picture. 

So that's the June 21st update. Other than the fact that we had to go to the groomer to get our claws (and I do mean c-l-a-w-s) trimmed. It was a gruesome affair, but JoJo was more "villaine" as they say in French that I was. I was in fact quite "sage", so I got lots of extra Bisous (kisses) from Susan afterwards. And we did get new booty chew toys while we were there. Fortunately, Susan can't stand the awful noises we make so she doesn't take us very often. 

Tomorrow we're heading out to a couple of outlying medieval villages to get some mountain air. I love the car rides and am quite excited about the jaunt. We've outlined three close ones on the map. 

I'll close for now. Just wanted to send a word of encouragement on behalf of my many non-literary colleagues asking all you dog rescuers to keep up the good work. We all appreciate it even if we don't write. As we say in the dog world......

Life is a bark. Enjoy it!

Love,

Julio le Beau.

P.S. Stacey, one quick question I've been meaning to ask you: Can you tell me why on my adoption papers (which Susan just looked at recently) my name reads "Julio / Psycho?" I told her it was a typo, but I'm not sure she bought it.