Pepper was a yupper and yuppers have a certain reputation,
intelligence-wise. My friend Travis and his grandparents
helped me pick him out at the Iron Mountain animal shelter.
It soon became clear that Pepper was not the smartest of
my pets and eventually I told him, "I'm going to teach you
to be cute, because that's all you've got going for you."
I may have exaggerated, but he did learn to be cute and a
lot of people noticed. (That is, when they could see him.
One time we were walking at night a a surprised woman
said, "You can't even see him in the dark." I said, "His
hair is so black you can't see him well even in the day.")
Pepper did have one impressive skill, however. When you
threw a stick for him, even in the middle of the woods,
he would always bring back that stick back to you. Never
did he give up and never would he substitute.