The Carpathian Shepherd poked her massive and beautiful head out from the shade of her hideout. 

She lay beneath the front porch, her huge body draped comfortably across the damp dirt. The end of her tongue peeked out from smiling lips, and she regarded my approach with a friendly bark, showing her teeth with good naturedness. Aside from the porch, the rest of the house was more wide than it was long, painted a nice shade the color of melted butter. A veranda on the side collected sun in the afternoon, fading the gray tiles to almost an off-white. A neat garden spread out before it all, completely fenced in, with a wooden gate allowing entrance to the collection of Black Eyed Susan’s, Roses, Tulips, Lady Slippers and even a score of berry bushes. At the back of the garden, a gnarled apple tree stoically watched over it all, guarded by a row of rocks and the faded faces of garden gnomes and other various stone statues.