Thursday, February 20

We have come to see Chad and Sally. More specifically, we have come to see how Shanti gets on with their dog Sweetie. When we get there Olya turns up with her dog, with a name I either can’t pronounce or can’t remember, and her friend Natalie, an alleged dog trainer who speaks only Russian.

Sweetie proves unable to do anything but try to intimidate the other dogs, until she decides to focus almost all of her attention on intimidating Shanti. Shanti all but ignores her which seems to further inflame her.

Mayhem ensues as nobody can agree what we should do to calm the dogs, or pacify them, or whatever. It rapidly becomes impossible to talk over the sound of Sweetie’s incessant barking and snapping and, in any case, people begin to fear that she will actually start biting Shanti or anyone who tries to do anything.

In the end nothing happens. Sweetie runs out of steam and Shanti and Olya’s dog start playing or at least teasing each other.

At some point in this mayhem I photograph some temporarily abandoned sandals that may or may not belong to Natalie.