Thanks for the greenies- if that wonderful dog had not chosen us, we might have never had a dog- something I always wanted since I was a child. Pepper was fabulous- and lived such a long life, and fit almost to the end. He kept me fit too, that is for sure, and sane. And thanks to him I discovered so much about wildlife in our part of UK- and he became an expert at finding badger setts for me (to record and keep safe- as well as to observe). Our current dog is a Beauceron-Alsacian cross- and we adopted her from friends in the Valais who could not keep her- and she came to live with us in UK before we came back to live here. About 15 now- and I miss our big walks. She was found by them by the roadside too- no pads left, having wandered up and down same isolated road for 1 week (our friend saw her everyday going to work in Vevey, morning and night, in various locations for a week before he picked her up... She is lovely, our Gatsby, but no dog will ever be our Pepper. Cheers. Odile