Alonso's Friday night plans have been curtailed. He wandered off while we were chopping wood and his owner picked him up down the road.

He makes choices. They're not always good choices, but they are his.

We hadn't seen Alonso since Friday. The chasseurs have been out all weekend, festively shooting festive things in a festive way, so his owners have probably been keeping him in.

Alonso arrived well after dark this evening, having staged a late escape. I suppose we should let his owners know he's here, although I think they can probably guess. 😉

That was quite a yelp, indicating the arrival of a very wet and cold Alonso, who then proceeded to resist all attempts to dry him properly.

It's chucking it down out there. We're not had any of the forecast snow but I wouldn't describe it as warm outside.

(A THUMP in the other room while typing this suggests Alonso has just had one of his gravity moments)

Alonso's owner came to collect him last night and said he probably won't be here much because they will be home for the holidays.

Apparently Alonso didn't get the memo.

WUFF! 🐶

We went out to the woods earlier on a secret quest (ssh! - more on that later). Alonso, paying no attention at all, went off in the other direction towards the lac.

When Alonso is focused on his nose he is almost completely deaf, or so it seems.

He was searching for us in the woods, and only about 20 metres away when I called loudly to him and he couldn't apparently hear me. Eventually he spotted us and ran up to greet us.

Since we spotted their secret place in the summer ideas keep popping into my head. The former Scout leader part of my brain wants to set a treasure hunt.

Bearing in mind Miss 6's age we decided that some of my more elaborate ideas, such as "Crime Scene Santa: the Hunt for a Killer" will have to wait until she's a bit older.

In the end we went with a simple note:

Bonjour [redacted] !

Un de tes cadeaux est tombé du traîneau !

Je suis vraiment desole, mais je ne peux pas m'arrêter pour le chercher car je dois rendre visite à beaucoup d'enfants pour Noël.

Le cadeau a atterri dans le bois près de chez toi.

Je pense que tu pourras le retrouver dans les bois si tu regardes attentivement. Je crois qu'il est tombé près du ruisseau.

Joyeux Noël !

père Noël

Yes! Miss 6 found her presents in the woods today! 😃 🎅

We just received a lovely message from Alonso's owners along with some pictures of their daughter finding and then using her presents. It was just little stuff - some colouring pens, a book to draw in and some stickers, but the smile on her face was totally worth it.

Right, next year she's going to have to work for it. There will be a map 🗺️ 😉

Alonso also came for a visit yesterday and had another sleepover here.

This is the dog that won't be here much because it's the holidays 😉

Alonso arrived (just in time for breakfast, having, presumably, just had breakfast).

He's now helping me prepare my company accounts while sleeping under a pile of blankets on my desk.

Alonso is, I assure you, more capable and attentive than our previous accountant, less likely to give bad VAT advice, and his fees are very reasonable.

💸 🐶

We walked Alonso to the lac yesterday and again today, as he'd stayed the night here.

We met his owners on the way back. Each of them in two cars heading in opposite directions converged on our position, along with their daughter. It is quite common in rural France to just park in the middle of the road and have a long chat. No one minds. If anyone had wanted to get past they'd have waited while we finished.

Alonso went home with them, but his owners say he'll likely be back later 😉

Sometimes when I'm cooking I let Alonso smell the various ingredients. A little bit of vegetable, a spice packet, a bottle etc. He he has a careful little sniff, and loses interest when he smells it's not something he eats.

I was not expecting him to eat the kim chi.

I've been saving some Alonso stories from the summer for an appropriate moment. Perhaps that is now.

A while back I promised to tell you about Muffy, but maybe you would prefer something else first? It's readers choice here on the Alonso channel:

🐶

"Muffy the Alonso Slayer"

Alonso may be small, but he bosses around much larger dogs. He is the Chef des Chiens around these parts, with one exception: Muffy the Alonso Slayer.

On our regular walks to the lac with Alonso we pass by a small group of houses near the road. Unlike most of the rural properties around here, these have fences and gates, and many are holiday homes occupied only for the summer.

In one of these houses lives Muffy during the summer months, along with her Dutch humans.

Muffy is (probably) not the name her humans call her, but it is what we have called her since the first time we saw her.

Muffy is a very small Maltese terrier about half the height of our hero.

Your first impression when seeing Muffy is that the mop end has come off, and the handle must be around here somewhere. She's small and white and yappy. It is impossible to pass by without her making quite a fuss.

It is clear that, in her mind at least, she is the fierce decendant of wolves, but she has neither the stature nor the vocal chords to be taken seriously. 🐺

"Why do you not have a dog?!" they asked, clearly quite astonished.

The question was so abrupt and serious that I scrabbled to find an appropriate response. I explained that we used to travel a lot, and hoped that this was the correct answer.

They seemed to accept this, so I think we passed. ✅

Meanwhile, Alonso and Muffy were at a standoff.

Alonso was obviously very taken with Muffy, but any time he tried to greet her she rebuffed him with the most vicious of snarls. It is the only time we've seen Alonso being bossed by another dog.

I crouched to pat her, and she alternated between accepting pats and snarling at poor Alonso any time he approached!

After a while we said our goodbyes and walked on, but we've often had a smile and wave from them when we're passing on our way to the lac with Alonso.

Muffy is away for the winter now, but Alonso always stops to sniff the gate when we pass. We've no doubt the Slayer will return in a few months when the weather is warmer.

Alonso arrived at first light this morning when it was about -8°C.

We went out to chop some wood just now. He looked at the snow and decided to stay inside.

We were gone all of ten minutes. With the fuss he made when we got back you'd think we'd been gone for days.

Alonso has been here for the past two days and nights. We've had snow, sleet, high winds and lots of rain, so he's not wanted to go outside much.

Unfortunately this means he has waaay too much energy and has been racing about the house, growling, barking, kicking and generally being a nuisance. Managed to tire him out a bit with a ball, but he has way more energy than I do.

We're starting to understand why his owners are so thankful he comes here and we take him for walks. 😉

We have managed to get Alonso back into the hands of his owners. For the moment, at least 😉

He went outside, inspected their car, then snuck past me back into the house when I was talking to his owner and had to be retrieved.

Bed and Breakfast are two of Alonso's favorite things.

🛌 🥞

Alonso took himself home this afternoon after spending two days and nights here.

We watched him wander off into the woods while we were stacking firewood. He paused, as he always does, to look back at us to see if we were going to follow, then trotted off on his own. His owner texted us a bit later to say he was home safe.

Alonso seems to be getting the idea that he can come and go between the two houses as he pleases. 🐶

Just a short visit from our wee hero today. 🐶

Alonso ran over to our field entrance by the road to try to lure us into taking him on his favorite walk to the lac. Unfortunately he chose the exact moment that his owner was driving past so he was picked up and taken home.

Chatted with Alonso's owner for a bit, who wanted to check we still had enough food for the boy, and about the various things he likes to eat that he's not supposed to.This could be the subject of an entire Duolingo unit.

Alonso's "short visit" yesterday turned into a sleepover, as he returned a few hours after dark with a WUFF at the door. 🐶

We let him in to supervise dinner and texted his owners to let them know he was safe.