By reading Margo's quotation of the importance of socialization I suddenly felt the necessity of walking the dog in the presence of other people.

Some time has passed since the two of us did just that. Living by the countryside some 6 km from our community center, we do our daily walks and training sessions in the neighborhood. Occationaly we drive to the center for shopping etc. so this saturday I decided for a combined mission by walking the dog and do the shopping.

First thing happened was when passing an advertising sign on the sidewalk. Just about to pass, the dog got aware of the sign and litterary reversed on my feet and made me allmost stumble and fall. Doing my best to keep my upright position I grabbed for the nearest object. By occation it was the t-shirt of a young lady passing by. I did my very best to undress her upper half.... Cleared off this situation we tried to turn around the corner. By that we met a nice old lady walking by a stick. At a close distance the dog did his best to embrace her. Everybody smiled, including the nice lady. Myself - I felt like an idiot. Later today we'll do the walking in the dark.

Per Olav