I'm not afraid to say I was nervous. I'd only ever been carried beyond the gate to the car so these were my first tentative steps into unknown territory...
And I couldn't make it beyond the car's front bumper.
Although the man and woman were both with me, and she was securely tied to me with a lead, I still felt overwhelmed by the space and all the loud noises and didn't want to go any further. I parked myself on the driveway and resisted any pull to move me forward. Even if I was double jabbed to protect me from all manner of canine maladies, I wasn't ready for the outside world...
That is until a friendly man appeared at the end of the driveway and opened his arms to greet me. Then I forgot about how scared I was and ran over to him. I was beyond the car before I'd realised what I'd done. It was worth it because he tickled my tummy and let me lick his arms. After that, I managed to walk around the entire cul de sac. I felt so proud of myself. There were loads of smells to take in and this was only the beginning. I had a whole street to investigate.
I was so good the humans invited me out again later.
This time they carried me to the end of the driveway to bypass my nerves. We managed halfway down the street before an ill-tempered, black and white dog barked at me from behind his gate. When he wasn't barking, he stared intensely at me with his one good eye. I didn't reckon his old bones could jump the gate but his gruff outbursts still gave me a fright. I sat down again and trembled. I'd had enough exploring for one day and wanted home.
The humans weren't having it. We stood at an impasse, me pulling one way, them standing like immovable rocks. Nothing I could do would budge them. (as I weigh less than 5 kg, the humans have an unfair weight advantage over me).
Then a woman appeared from a newly parked car. She waved and hurried over, excited to meet me. All her delight sent my tail into a spin propelling me up at her. Unfortunately, I got over-excited and leaked over her jeans. Only a little. Most of the spray landed on the pavement.
She was lovely about it. Told me she didn't mind. The trousers were an old pair. Phew!
She then insisted we go back to hers so her daughter could meet me too. The grumpy dog had vanished so I had no problem crossing the street. I got tickles and cuddles from the woman's daughter on their lawn. Everyone was so enamoured by my cute looks. I heard them say, "She's gorgeous, she's adorable, she's lovely" so many times, I thought I'd need a new name tag to include all those adjectives. There wouldn't be room for all those letters though. I'd need to shorten it to GAL.
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