Everything, Nothing, and I'm a Middle Child

Chef, as captured by Kristen & Mendon

We have downstairs neighbors. They have a dog, Chef, a bulldog.

My first encounter with him was precipitated by me walking up the stairs to our apartment thinking, "I know our new neighbors have a dog, what if he were loose and charged me? What would I do?" 5 seconds later, I got to find out. I froze and screamed loudly for Mark - was right behind me. The owner also heard me, called off his dog and ... err, it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship?

Anyway, I'm much less wary of the big lug now. In fact, he's grown quite accustomed to us. Mark just adores him and pets him whenever he gets a chance. Chef bit him once - when Mark put his hand into Chef's dog house and tried to yank the sleeping Chef out to put his leash on him (we were having workers coming over).

Chef frequently meets us at the stairs, snorting away - fortunately, he's not a slobbery bulldog. And now, he has taken to following us up our stairs to our apartment. We now have to cajol him into letting us get around him on our steps. We also have to race up to our door so that we are in front of him as we open our door or he'll get into our house. And once we get the door open, we have to sneak through the door and slam it shut before Chef can bully his way in.

The other day, a friend came over and had this experience. I opened the door and in came Chef. I was so surprised I actually shrieked!