Bert

That's what the human has named our river otter friend.

He lives across the street. We see him occasionally - sometimes swimming, sometimes he pops his head up between rocks and looks at us.

This morning though, he was uber friendly. And I was too shocked and confused to utter a sound.

While we were standing on the rocks, we saw him swimming. He swam under a rock directly beneath us, and disappeared. We watched for a few seconds, then were about to walk away when he suddenly popped his head up and stared at us. I stared right back - couldn't figure out what the hell he was. He ducked back down into the rocks, we waited again and then started to walk away.

All of a sudden, he popped up again, right in front of us! He climbed up and out onto a rock, had a little shake to get the water off, and began to move toward us. Seemed like a friendly little fellow. I strained at my leash, trying with all my might to get closer, but the human stopped me. I was so shocked, I didn't even bark - was totally focused on figuring out what the hell he was and why he apparently had no fear in coming so close to me.

He eventually walked away, back to the safety of rock cover.

I looked and looked for him, but couldn't locate him. Meanwhile, the human was all, like, 'omg, Storm! That was sooooooooooooooooooooo cool! That was Bert, the river otter!!!!"

Sometimes, she embarrasses me.