Since she first arrived to live with us, it has been clear that KiKi found the world outside utterly absorbing. Her enthusiasm to scent and track, her eagerness to explore new places and her seemingly unbounded enjoyment in being loose to run have been evident from the outset, leading us to imagine that perhaps her previous life had been more constrained in some way. Initially these traits were a little worrying, given her less than perfect recall behaviour, but over the months since she has calmed a little, we feel more able to let her run freely. She remains though, incredibly alert and sensitive to her surroundings. As she progresses, as her responses become more predictable and her outbursts less frequent and less extreme, we try to trust her more. Still though the dilemma remains. We are determined that her lust for life not be constrained by our fear of incidents, that we not be over cautious. Equally, we recognise our responsibility to both keep her from harm and to ensure that she not be a danger to anyone else’s dog. Recently we encountered another female Dalmatian and, as we might have expected given the breed and gender, KiKi remained entirely calm and at ease. The other dog however, was clearly distressed by the encounter, as indeed were the owners. This dog it turns out was 10 years old, and it’s entire life had been one where the sight or the approach of another dog brought fear and anxiety. In our early experiences with KiKi we had employed a technique based on “BAT” (Behavioural Adjustment Therapy) whereby we literally went out of our way to avoid meeting other dogs ‘head-on’. Time soon showed us that, while her confidence slowly grew, this approach was simply not practical since in so many situations, dogs might be approaching from more than one direction, or might appear over a ridge suddenly and at close range. Equally we knew that on the occasions when KiKi was loose, she might well encounter another dog unexpectedly and that if her behaviour was not properly readjusted then her reaction could be unpredictable. Furthermore, we did have some concerns that our continued avoidance of other dogs would reinforce KiKi’s poor social skills. So instead, we have tried to manage her behaviour differently while remaining cautious, and developing an alertness of our own in keeping an eye open for approaching dogs. With, it has to be said, the patience and assistance of other dog owners we have encountered, KiKi can now be trusted to interact normally with a growing circle of dogs. We still face challenges, usually from smaller breeds which seem much more likely to be allowed by their owners to rush, barking, towards us. In these situations KiKi is still likely to respond in kind, unlike Leica who simply retreats behind us to a position of safety as she has always done.