Well, The Chow Nation certainly was glad to see us get back as they had a few things to go over with us. First thing last night, Pete says that all along, his name has not gotten the respect it deserves. First, people wouldn't call him sir, even though he is the biggest. His AKC name, Kane Piccolo, always played out as "Pete" around here but he came to me, quite troubled, upon my immediate return and said "Grandma! Everyone spells my name wrong! It's P.E.E.T. Peet!" In an effort to completely clear our own names, I disclose the true, real spelling of Peet's name and ask you all to update your records.

Second, Cleo came over and sat down beside me with some print outs he had run on Uncle Jonny's desktop. Cle has such big, sturdy Chow paws it must have taken him forever to print this stuff. Anyway, Cleo settled in beside me and patiently explained that this year in the year of The Dog. The Chows are really quite thrilled.

As Chows were originally bred to hunt bears in China, the Chow Nation focused the scope of their inquiry on the Chinese new year and the Chinese Zodiac. And here they hit paydirt.

The information the Chows dug up, heh heh, was quite interesting, including this: a Chinese human resources company has announced it would like its new staff to include plenty of "dogs" in their efforts this year. Jilin Jiangshan Human Resources Development Company, in its recruitment advertisement, invited only people born in the Year of the Dog to apply. A personnel manager for the company said those born in that particular Chinese astrological year tended to demonstrate qualities such as loyalty. Chinese law forbids discrimination in employment but is vague in its terms. "We believe that people born in dog years are born with some good characteristics such as loyalty and honesty," Mr Dong, personnel manager and himself a dog, told The Associated Press. "As a human resource company, those characters are exactly what we need," he said. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2006 is the Year of the Dog. Those born in 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982 and 1994 were all born to this astrological sign.

Cle says that those year dates only matter so much and that real dogs, particularly Chinese ones, are the thing for the new year, Chinese or other. Sylvie says she has always tried to be honest with everyone, that she eats first, and Red Dorothy says that since it's the Year of The Dog, is Peet going to clean the dingleberries off his butt? Uncle Bob says he's just glad that vacation is now over and that he can get back to his regular schedule of naps, 24/7. Those darn Chows always have lot of fun, with or without us, and I know that we haven't heard the end of The Year of the Dog.


JBelle
Bellemaison
The 'Kan EWA