Strange thing happened last night when I picked up my fiancee from her workplace. I very nearly had an unwanted hitchiker in the form of a large and enthusiastic dog.
First off, I should probably point out that I’m not a “Dog Person.” I don’t know if it’s a leftover from delivering papers when I was younger, or if it’s something as simple as having a healthy self-preservation instinct, but I just don’t find it endearing when a big furry carnivore comes bounding toward me.
“Ah but his tail is wagging! He’s happy to see you!”
Yes, I’m sure his tail wags and he’s happy to see dinner too, when it arrives.
“But dogs are so loyal!”
Yes, to their owner. Not to me.
“He’s just wants to play!”
I’ve seen what happens to chew toys when they play with them. No thank you.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of dogs.”
I’m not. There are some dogs that I quite like, but they belong to friends or relatives. I’m familiar with them and I know what to expect when they’re bounding around slobbering on things and stinking to high heaven. They’re fine. I’m just not very fond of strange dogs that bark and lunge at you on leashes of uncertian tensile strength.
Anyway, I encountered this particular dog late last night. My fiancee was getting in to the car when this guy walking his dog went past. She said something along the lines of “What a nice dog!”
This got the dog’s attention. He looked over, saw the car, saw the open door, and then came bounding over and tried to climb into the front passenger’s seat.
His owner, in a kind of spacy voice said, “Hey… We’ve got a beetle too. He loves to go for rides.”
Meanwhile his dog has managed to shove part way past my fiancee and is scrabbling at the side of the car, trying to get more than his snout and front paws in…
It all worked out, eventually. The dog walker suddenly realized that he was walking a dog (“Dude! Where’s my dog?”) and with a dazed “Woah…” he managed to haul his dog back under control. He wandered off vaguely in one direction, and we drove away, hurriedly, in the other.