Trees brushed alongside my bright chestnut coat, sap sparkled in the morning sunlight, and the sound of a drumming rythm of paws echoed in my head. Because I'm a hybrid, my fur changes colors. As the sun goes down, my fur fades from its golden chestnut color to pure white by the time its dark. Then in the morning, it brightens from its white coloring and slowly moves up its color scale back to the bright chestnut again. But my eyes are almost always their same color: a mix of gold, yellow, green, brown, and hazel.

Cole is running beside me, clearing logs, side-stepping thorns and ivy, and avoiding mud puddles. "And i thought you liked getting dirty," communicating through dog language. "Sometimes, but my mud is harder to get out of fur." "True." "We're almost there."