I haven't decided yet how I am going to incorporate Lucy's impact on us into the website.  She is a major part of our life now.  We love her like crazy and she entertains us like you wouldn't believe.  That face ... it just kills us.  Just like when I am around my grandchildren, it would be so easy to talk about them only.  Maybe I should make a Lucy section just for her, so I don't bore everyone to death with Lucy stories.  Anyway, for this update I'll provide you with this summary.

	She's adapted to the boat completely.  Hops around from place to place with complete confidence even when we are bouncing around.  She doesn't get seasick when we are underway.
	She is not afraid of the ocean.  I learned that lesson early.  I took her to the little pebbly beach at the marina in Rome.  Several small dogs were running around, so I let Lucy off her leash.  She bolted for the waves, jumped in and started swimming!  It was freezing cold and she didn't care!  A wave washed her back to shore, I grabbed her and rushed my soaking wet little rat back to the boat as quickly as I could and gave her a warm bath.  After that, we kept her on the leash.
	She poops and pees on her green whelping pad which lines the floor of the shower stall.  We have several of them and Mike washes them on deck every day.  They dry very quickly when hung on the lifeline.  The shower is now called "the green room".  She gets a food treat every time she uses the green room, so she is very motivated to do it there.  We are extremely happy that this practice has worked so well.
	We bathe her on deck when it's warm, and in the shower when it's cold outside.  We rigged a grooming station where Linda can blow dry, brush her and clip her.  Learning how to clip her is a work in progress.  It's a good thing that hair grows back.  In fact, it grows too fast!
	She loves riding in the dinghy and can hop in and out without hesitation.  She loves the wind in her face and her ears flying out.
	We have a section of our backpack with all her 'stuff' when we go out.  In it is her cushion, which we put on the floor between our chairs when we go to restaurants; her poop pick-up bags; her foldable water bowl; a tupperware bowl with her lunch; some carrot sticks for snacks; her comb, in case we have to comb out a sticker when we are hiking; baby wipes, in case she sticks her face in the dirt, which she always does; and a tote bag that we can carry her in if necessary.
	She doesn't bark, and we are grateful for that.
	She does the Bichon blitz.  At least once a day, she has an explosive burst of energy which lasts about a minute or so.  She goes nuts and has to race around the boat as fast as she can.  When I see it coming, I make sure she is down below.  Once she blitzed on the deck and I thought for sure she was going in the drink.  After her blitz, she goes to sleep.  It's very funny, and it is common for the Bichon Frise.  See a 14 second video of Lucy blitzing.
	She has a kennel which we keep her in if we have to go out without her.  Unfortunately, we don't go out without her very often, so she is not used to being left alone, and she wails.  When we first got her to the boat in February, we left her in the kennel a couple of times and everything went well.  At that time, she was sleeping in the kennel, too.  Then we started letting her sleep with us (I can hear everyone groaning).  She still goes in her kennel during the day when she wants to rest in a cozy secure place.  So it's not like she doesn't like her kennel, she does.  But she cries loudly if we lock the kennel door and leave the boat.  She ate through the mesh on her travel kennel, so now we have a hard kennel.  We keep saying that we are going to leave her on the boat more often so she can get used to it.  But when we run our errands, we always end up taking her with us .. because she needs to get out and get some exercise, too!
	She loves digging in the sand.  We took her to a sandy beach on Elba and she dug vigorously until her head was completely burrowed into the hole.  We can't wait until the weather is warmer and we can let her run free on the beach.
	She loves people.  And people love her.  It's hard to train her not to jump up on people when so many people approach her excitedly saying "Bella! Bella!"  And they want to pet and play with her.  She's very popular.  Plus, Italy is a dog-loving country.  That's one of the reasons it is so easy to travel with her.  Dogs are welcome just about everywhere.
	Even though Linda does the grooming, she is Mike's dog.  He does everything else for her.  He plays with her, cleans up after her, talks to her, teases her and snuggles with her all day.  He says she is the best present he ever got.  And she adores him.