[That's weird, she thinks fleetingly, to say something like "understood" in average, idle conversation. But the Belmont is sort of weird, anyway, so maybe it's just a Belmont Thing.]

You could show them to me sometime, perhaps. I would like to see the dogs.

[Also maybe it will assist in 1) tempering the Belmont and 2) continuing to get him to sit still for five whole seconds.]

I never had one — too hard to travel with, given the sort of traveling that we do. I had a bird, though, for a little while. That was years ago.