Meeting Fans- Greeting Strangers

Winnie and I experienced a first for the blog this week, we met a blog fan! A friend and former co-worker  was in Vermont for a wedding and emailed me to ask if her seven year old daughter, Helena - could meet Winnie Cooper. Of course we couldn't pass up the (photo) opportunity to meet and greet a faithful super fan like Helena. Plus, no one likes to disappoint a seven year old girl, that is just not good karma!

Winnie has no idea that she's not
the cutest thing in this picture.

Winnie is quite used to getting ooohed and awwwed over as she walks about town, truthfully I think she has come to expect it. When we walked up to meet her super fan and Helena shouted out "Winnie Cooper!" as though she was meeting a real celebrity- well Winnie was not phased one little bit! She wagged her tail and greeted Helena warmly with smiles and licks. Winnie is well aware that her target audience is little girls and older/elderly folks. She always greets people that fall into those categories happily, while she is less likely to be so excited when she sees little boys.

Still working it.

Even while we sat and enjoyed some ice cream, another little girl came up and asked to pet Winnie - and a Mom and toddler at the next table came over to gave a few pets. By this time, I could see that Winnie was reaching her limit of being fawned over so I let her get on my lap, and reminded myself that we need to get out for more socialization (with children and other dogs). When I first adopted Winnie, she had zero tolerance for children (probably one of the reasons she was given up), so she has come a looooong way, but she still needs to brush up on her manners around the wee ones (don't we all? I think I dropped the eff-bomb a couple of times in front of my nephews the last time I saw them, what can I say, we don't see kids on a daily basis!).

Posing for pictures is one thing Winnie does really well.
Practice makes perfect, of course.

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