I opened my eyes to see what was going on. Suddenly, the dog had turned to run in another direction. I shivered with relief as I wondered why he had lost interest in me. And then I saw. It was all Lexi’s doing. My new friend had climbed down from his safe perch in the tree and set himself in the path of the huge dog. Lexi knew he could avoid being caught by the big animal. As soon as the dog was about to jump at him, Lexi charged off in a different direction. At once, the dog changed course. The dog was too dumb to realize that he would never be able to catch a creature who could run and climb and jump with squirrel speed. Is was an amazing performance. Before long, Lexi’s game was interrupted by a human who came shouting and calling and waving a long strap. “Figaro . . . Figaro . . . Figaro!” it called out, then shouted, “Heel!” The animal stopped and looked at the human. He looked longingly at Lexi but he didn’t try to catch him. “Good dog,” the voice encouraged.
