It is interesting to see how the new house rules create the kind of world order which suits Max and which he understands.

This is especially obvious with the rule that I eat first, before I feed him (just like in the wild, the alpha male eats first). Before, when it came to feeding time, and I fed him before I started to prepare my own meal, Max used to behave as if it was a matter of life-and-death extreme urgency for him to get fed the minute he heard the sounds of his meal being prepared. Now that I cook and eat first, he either sits or lies, just outside the kitchen, and watches me, completely patiently, or he goes to his bed and goes to sleep. He is still back on his feet the second I then start to get his food ready, but he observes those preparations with much more patience than he used to. This sequence of events is clearly more in his nature and something he can relate to.

This morning, we visited a new (at least for me – I am not sure about Max) dog park – also on Tempelhofer Feld but over on the other side, nearer to Tempelhof S and U station and a little less than 5 km away on foot. I had only recently discovered its existence. It is about the same size as the other one, I think, so not much difference except there is a lot more going on on that side of the airfield. I think we will alternate between those two as long as weather and time permit, and then use the ones at Gleisdreieck and Hasenheide when it becomes colder and windier and on days where for one reason or the other we have a little less time. I love Tempelhofer Feld, but it is a little bit further away than the other parks, and it can get unbelievably cold there. Even if it is not particularly windy in the rest of Berlin, it can get incredibly windy on that airfield.