<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Thank you Sue for telling me about Bernie. I never knew her/his name. I was in the plaza of Fromisto, December 99, when I was removing my pack. Other than an artist sitting on a bench doing sketches, no one was around. This German Shepherd (now known as Bernie) came running across the plaza in my direction. Bernie jumped on me, her/his paws on my shoulders and was licking my face. What's strange is I didn't have any fear and was actually anticipating some kind of friendly reception from the dog. The artist explained that the dog followed a group of pilgrims from Castrojerez and was waiting for the owners. <BR>
On both of my Camino experiences I've had dogs follow me, but not for any great distance. My favorite dog is the Pyrenees Sheep dog at O'Cebriero. I wanted to ride it to Santiago. All the loose dogs I've met were people friendly. Only the chained dogs seemed brutal, maybe because they were chained.<BR>
I think Paulo Coelho and Shirley MacLaine have given Camino dogs a bad rap by demonizing them in their books. </FONT></HTML>