It has taken Sahraa some time to adjust to life in the KSA, despite the fact that she’s from Kuwait and should be used to this part of the world. But it was quite traumatic for her to leave her personal chef and maid in Budapest along with our enormous house and 2 acres of land, only to come to Riyadh, where we have a relatively small house with a tiny garden and nobody to cook gourmet chicken breasts for her every day. Given the dislike for dogs here, we have to be careful of where we let her off the leash, and she is so used to getting constant attention, even from strangers, that she seems offended that not many people want to visit with her, and that some even run from her. Workmen from the embassy and the Saudi landlord won’t even come in our house unless she is shut away in a room.

There have been some hopeful signs, however, like the Saudi family who stopped their car so the four kids could “meet” Sahraa – they all lined up and waved at her, then jumped back in the car and were gone. That has now happened several times; maybe it’s a safe way to be exposed to “wildlife.” Only yesterday a young girl came up and hugged Sahraa around the neck, but when Sahraa thought her friend might want a hug, too, the friend jumped out in the street in terror. One evening Sahraa and I were sitting at Al-Kindi Plaza waiting for Tim to come out of the grocery store, and several locals came up and asked to pet her. They thought she was lovely. And once a group of teenage boys on skateboards were at first leery of her but then decided she was pretty nice and all wanted to visit with her.

So just maybe, she’s acting as an ambassador for dogs everywhere and will help change perceptions about dogs here!