Hi to all my readers:
As promised, here's the big animal event.
Last Sunday mom and I and Chris (I am guiding her after all) went by car and got off at a place where there were people offering various things in the streets, or rahter in a gravel-covered area. Mom and Chris had fun talking to the folks and buying items as cheap as they could, and then, of course, they had something to eat. I got water, and I think a treat as well. Then came my chalenge - walking through a narrow aisle, a hole lot of birds, rabbits and other small animals in cages on both sides. O how I wish I could have sat, stared at them and jumped at the cages out of nowhere th scare all those animals! But Chris held on to the harness handle, and if I don't guide, then I'm up for major trouble. She knew when I was about to lose focus and re-enforced her command for me to go ahead, and after we had gone through that hell she praised me a lot. She said I had done a fairly good job.
In the evening we got into the car again and picked up a boy from a strange train station I had never seen before. Chris says he was her nephew - man, how many nephews she has! Anyways, we went into a street café and had ice-cream and water. Then we went into a kind of a park with fences on both sides of the road. There were dogs in a shop, and Chris first left me in the car to find out if bringing me was allright. The folks did not mind at all, so I came along. We walked, and I saw a huge bird, really huge, larger than Chris for sure. She calls it ostrich, do you know it? The boy held my leash as Chris walked towards one of the fences. She streched out her arm, and that mean bird pinched her finger with his beak. The man who gave them that guided tour says I couldn't have defended her, the bird would have killed me instead.
Along with us came another dog, quiet and probably fun to play with, but Chris did not take my leash off until the guide told her it was safe, although she had pointed out that I am not fond of other females. But this one was an exception. She didn't bark at me or anything, didn't threaten me, growl or run much; we had a good sniff at each other, and I asked for play, but she wasn't up for it, so I just strolled along, got pets here and there and occasionally sniffed my fellow female again. She liked me too, she really was cool. Only when I got too close to those gigantic birds, Chris put me back on leash and that was it for the night.
We left the boy there and they looked at his apartment or room, and then the three of us left for home. When we arrived it was already dark outside, but Chris took me for a run anyway.