High Praise

There's a man I see each morning when I go walking. He has a big brown dog that runs free when no-one's around. As soon as someone appears though, the man gets out a lead and clips it onto the dog's collar.  He was bending down to do this today when he saw that it was me. He let go of the collar then and allowed the dog to run towards me. 'He likes you,' he said, as the dog bounded up and gave me a licking. 'He doesn't like many people, but he does like you.'

I felt ridiculously pleased by this. I regarded it as one of the best compliments I could be given. I can't respect anyone who treats a dog - or any animal - badly and, by the same token, I'm very proud if I earn the respect of a discriminating hound.