OK - this is what I look likewhen you take your early morning walk and encounter a real wild swine. I'm not talking a nice pink miss Piggy like pig  , no I'm talking *swine* here... - a wild hog, a wild boar, nonetheless -(Sus scrofa).

Look, I'm only a small Maltese lady, 5 years old and pampered and protected and kept safe by my mom and dad. OK, I have enough courage to chase rabbits and squirrels away. And I get excited -although a bit apprehensive- by the smell of other wild animals in the woods. Especially when I smell a wild boar...
But to actually *see* one... that's a different story. My mum has always been afraid and has had visions of wild boars using me as a nice appetizer. So there we went, at 7 in the morning for that memorable walk - my mum did not feel too well so decided to take the small round. She took small steps, using her crutch to lean on. And she was holding the leash with me on the end of it in her right hand.
And then, all of the sudden: There he was:

Not this particular one, but one very much like him. He scared my mum so much that she dropped my leash, but could grab it straight back. And then she started walking as fast as she could, which was not very fast. She did not have to tag me along, no, I was gladly leading the way. She was looking over her shoulder to see if he was following us, but thank goodness he wasn't...
All the brave scenarios she had had made up in her mind in case she would meet one, were gone. Both she and myself had only *one* goal: To be safely inside the cabin as soon as possible!

My little feet walked as fast as they could and mum's legs walked as fast as her handicap allowed them but we made it. The boar walked on pursuing his own way and we made it safely back to the cabin. We woke up dad and he and mum went back to the place where the boar was last seen, accompanied with her camera, leaving me in the caravan, thank goodness!
But he was gone, of course. However, he scared a cat that was on a leash at one of the caravans and it broke the leash and was gone in hiding... Poor kitty. Later my mum learned that the cat was found safely and was back with its own mum and dad.

But I think I am quite a Maltese having survived an encounter with a real wild animal!
Don't you agree???? You see, over here we are called Maltese s - and I do feel like one, now, for sure

Have a nice day, all of you!
Hugs,
Pixie, a small Dutch Maltese Lion :0))))))