Making the Connection

Within my species are 400 breeds. What is a breed? Definition: 13.Genetics. a relatively homogenous group of animals within a species, developed and maintained by humans. My breed is the miniature schnauzer as you may have read in my profile and earlier post.
I have had the privilege of helping my species communicate with another species called homo sapiens, understand my species, a.k.a dog, better. Within homo sapiens, a.k.a human, there are many "breeds" for lack of a better word, smaller groups of humans who develop similar traits and characteristics that differentiate from other small human groups. Some human groups have the trait of not liking dogs. I was lucky to be able to help one such group of humans begin to understand dogs better and perhaps even like us! Or at least like me!
Plus we have more similarities between our species than you think! Read more about this surprising discovery! http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1207_051207_dog_genome.html

Diplomacy

I did not know what diplomacy was until I started doing it. When I looked it up in the dictionary I found this definition: n. 1.the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations. 2.the art or science of conducting such negotiations. 3.skill in managing negotiations, handling, people, etc. so that there is little or no ill will; tact: Seating one's dinner guests often calls for considerable diplomacy.
As I said I did not know I was engaging in such behavior and had unconsciously become a diplomat. No need for a full definition again but simply put, I became one engaged in diplomacy or handling delicate situations.
What countries needed to negotiate? Which country was I representing? I would say that I was not acting on behalf of any country in the standard sense one sees in politics. However, I was acting on behalf of something even larger than a country, a species. I am a diplomat for my speicies Canine familiaris.

Activity

I love chewing on wood and stones. Here I am on my roof deck with a wood chip. I like to stare at them, fixated at times, chew them, roll them around and chase them like they were live animals. I suppose from my vermin hunting past.

Many Moods

Though my breed has a serious look, I am often quite happy-go-lucky.

What I Do

Most of the time I am lying around the apartment sleeping as my kind sleep about 14 hours a day, of which 10-12% of the time is in REM sleep, or so humans say. Otherwise I am watching the movements of my human companions or changing my sleeping position or location from couch to couch, to different spots on the floors and rug. As you can see I am fluffy and my coat is shiny. What you can not tell is that my coat is also very soft and fine. Unlike many schnauzers I am quite soft. I have never had my coat "stripped" which means a sort of hair removal by plucking the hair out so the wiry undercoat of hair is encouraged to grow. One sees wiry coats on many schnauzers who are in the show dog circuit. The humans around me prefer the silky coat feel.