Critter tale

ACCLIMATED- Snowy, who moved to Agoura Hills from New Zealand a few years ago, is living the American Dream. When my whänau (family) decided to move to America from Aotearoa (New Zealand) five years ago, I was nervous. I certainly didn't like the mandatory rabies vaccination- it stung- and I made sure everyone knew by screaming like a Taniwha (mythological spirit). However, I also became the proud owner of a topoftheline, custombuilt wooden traveling crate, a real puppy palace.

It was quite an adventure setting out for America. There were a couple of failed attempts to begin with as we had to make sure the temperature at my destination, LAX, was not too hot for transporting animals. I certainly wasn't going to miss the cold South Island winter I was experiencing in New Zealand. You try going for a walk in an 8 degree Centigrade frost in bare putu (feet).

I had a couple of hours in a small waka rererangi (aeroplane) from my hometown to a bigger airport, where I boarded a Jumbo Jet. Thirteen long, tiring hours later I touched down in LAX and went into a special animal cargo area to wait for my pet tangata (human) to finish the paperwork to spring me out.

It was a bit hotter than I thought it would be. The pavement was so hot I couldn't walk on it, and my owner had to carry me to the car. Jet lag wasn't a problem- I just threw up on my owner's bed and that was it.

Now I have settled in and am lapping up my new life. So what have I learned in the last five years?

+That "walkies" in California take place in the morning or evenings in summer, preferably on cool green karaehe (grass).

+Every outing has been a smorgasbord of new animal smells- coyote, skunk, raccoon. Even the rapeti (rabbits) smell different than New Zealand ones.

+The dogs in my holiday kennel bark with a funny accent.

+I aroha (love) my new groomer.

+Swimming pools and I don't get along so well.

+American poti (cats) run just as fast as New Zealand ones.

+I have a fetish for chewing gum as it is all over the pavement and parks here, and it tastes even better pre-chewed.

+I refuse to drink the tap wai (water)- filtered only, please.

+I always give thanks for leftover turkey on Thanksgiving.

I do miss New Zealand sometimes. We have roughly 60 million hipi (sheep) so I miss seeing them in the fields, although I don't miss the bottlefed baby lambs which appeared every spring and chased me round the garden and used my kennel to sleep in.

Dude, I'm a California canine now. A Valley Dog, living the American Dream in the sunshine. E noho rã (Goodbye).

Traci Craig of Agoura Hills served as the ghost writer on this story for her dog, Snowy.