Mensa meets her backpack.

35 degrees F, a balmly morning.

I showed Mensa the empty Wenaha backpack (large, red, an ebay find) on top of the doghouse. She jumped up and sniffed it all over then jumped off, and would not be coaxed on top again. OK. So I held it in one hand and offered treats in the other. She was OK with that. Tok liked it even more. Mensa wasn’t so sure about putting something over her face, so I unbuckled the neck and laid it on her back like a saddle. That was fine until she spun out from under it while I tried to get it buckled around her neck. So we went back to just calmly holding her by her semi-slip sledding collar and put it over her nose. Then her back. That was OK. I offered her dinner and she didn’t care what was going on while I adjusted and buckled and re-adjusted so it fit on her snugly but without pinching.

I took it off and we “dressed” her again that afternoon. A really balmly 65 degrees. I put two rolled extra-large beach towels so it would hang on her, but weighed only 5#. This time she let me put it over her nose and since it was already sized, I didn’t have to get fiddly with her. She did a couple of quick spins, like a horse twisting out from under the saddle. But it didn’t give much. I tugged it back off her neck and she rolled with it and laid there, looking at me as if I were subjecting her to some indignity. When Yuki hollered from the downhill yard, Mensa popped up on her feet and bristled. (They really don’t like each other.)

But we walked around the driveway with Tok for a little bit and Mensa seemed to get used to it.