Almost every afternoon, you can find me having a cappuccino at an outdoor table of the Scandinavia bakery in the Centro Laguna mall. That’s where I sit and dream up most of the articles I write for El Ojo Del Lago magazine. Typically, my stories are about something silly that happened to me. But today’s story is about something silly that happened to somebody else, right here at my favorite cappuccino shop.
A young woman, who was walking her Golden Retriever, decided to stop here for coffee. She tied her dog’s leash to a chair and then went into the shop to place her order. Golden Retrievers are generally well-behaved. In fact, they are one of the breeds most commonly selected to become Service Dogs. They can be taught to help the visually impaired, the hearing impaired, and can even learn to pull a wheelchair.
During the owner’s absence, something got the dog’s attention and it tugged on the leash. The chair wasn’t one of those lightweight white plastic jobs you see everywhere. This was a sturdy steel-framed chair with a webbed seat and back. It wouldn’t be easy to tip over. But, apparently, this Golden Retriever was up to the task.
At any rate, the chair toppled over with a loud metallic bang which startled the dog and set him off running. As he ran, the chair bounced and clattered behind him, causing him to run faster. And to top it off, one of the bakery staff ran after him, trying to grab the chair. No such luck. If anything, the stranger chasing along behind only scared the dog more. They banged and rattled past all the bakery customers and continued southbound through the back parking lot almost to the carretera. They then turned west and clattered past the electronics store, the Sushi joint, the dental office, the HSBC bank, and the mattress store. At the O’Rourke-Lloyd insurance office, the dog turned north up the driveway leading into the main parking lot. We could still hear all the commotion a block away.
A few minutes later, the dog and his entourage had come full circle and were back at the patio table where he’d started. By then, the owner had come out of the bakery and was able to flag him down and disconnect him from his nemesis. Lesson learned. Don’t tie your dog to something that weighs less than he does.
My cousin, DJ, who lives in Wisconsin, had a similar experience, but on a grander scale. He, too, is a dog lover. But he’s a big guy, six-foot-seven in his prime. Whatever he does, he does big. In the past he has owned both the biggest pontoon boat and the biggest RV in the state of Wisconsin. When it comes to dogs, he’s not someone who pictures himself walking a “Toy” this, or a “Miniature” that. He wanted a breed that, when people see it, they say; “Now THAT’s a DOG!”
Have you ever heard of a Newfoundland? It looks like a Saint Bernard on steroids. A full-grown male can weigh 190 pounds. They typically have dark dense fur that makes them look like a cross between a Saint Bernard and a Black Bear, with maybe a little Michael Phelps thrown in. It turns out; they are the most powerful swimmers in the dog world. They were bred to be water rescue dogs. They have webbed toes. With their dense fur, they were more than willing to plunge into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic to save a fisherman who had fallen overboard.
So DJ and his wife, Wendy, fell in love with “Newfies”. Over the years, he’s seldom had fewer than three at the same time. The Newfoundland Dog Rescue Shelters in four states have DJ on speed dial. He always seems to have room for one more. He couldn’t bear to leave them behind when he and Wendy went on vacation, so he bought a 42-foot-long motorhome. Actually, it was more of a motormansion. It had four slide-out extensions that created an interior living space twice as big as my first apartment. It came with four big-screen TVs. I suppose that was in case the dogs couldn’t agree on what shows to watch. You wouldn’t want three of those giants squabbling over the remote.
A few years ago I went to a family reunion in Wisconsin. Our group visited DJ and Wendy in a nearby campground to check out their new RV. There were no dogs inside during our tour. When we went outside, I noticed one dog tied to the picnic table. When I asked where the others were, DJ said they were tied to other picnic tables at nearby vacant campsites. DJ explained that he once tied all three to the same table, and they dragged it all over the campground like a runaway stagecoach. Lesson learned.
I never tire of hearing DJ’s stories about his dogs. He recalled the time he was in his back yard throwing a ball for the dogs to fetch. At some point he realized that there were only two dogs playing the game. He called out the name of the 189-pound male – King. No result. He called King again, and a voice timidly responded from the front driveway, “We’re coming.” Apparently, having lost interest in chasing the ball, King had decided to fetch the UPS delivery man instead. Leading the poor guy by the wrist, King proudly delivered his prize to DJ in the back yard. Now THAT’s a DOG. Fortunately, no blood was drawn. But I’ll bet there was soiled underwear.
By the way, in case there are any Service Dog trainers reading this article and wondering if that Golden Retriever might be a good candidate for pulling a wheel chair, I can only say this. Have you ever seen the movie Ben-Hur ?
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Seaman, a Newfoundland dog, was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaman_(dog)