On the way to the kindergarten this morning we passed a friend's small dog (called Toot – strawberry in Hebrew) tied up on the corner. My daughter bounded up to the dog, whooping for joy, and the dog, not surprisingly, whelped in panic and cowered as far away from her as possible. As we continued our short walk, I explained to her that animals are easily frightened, and that she should approach them slowly, quietly and attentively in future. When we returned from the kindergarten at 2pm we passed the dog again. This time, to my surprise, my daughter did as I had suggested, and the dog came up to her, tail wagging in anticipation, and they spent a lovely and affectionate couple of minutes together. Lesson: put the Other first for the sake of the connexion.