Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Dogs: Not Just for Breakfast Anymore

I was walking Buster on the beach when I discovered something dog-owners have undoubtedly known for centuries. When dogs meet, their people do, too. Buster and I were minding our own business, well, rather Buster was minding the flock of seagulls business and I was minding Busters business, when along came a Huskie (or something) puppy who could only be described as simply beautiful, in a shockingly adorable puppy kind of way. Then along came his owner, who could also be described as simply beautiful, in a shockingly adorable grown-man-not-wearing-a-ring kind of way. Needless to say, I turned on the gaydar. And got no feedback. We simultaneously leashed our dogs, who were busy greeting each other in traditional doggie style, and stumbled over words apologizing for any inconvenience our dog had caused the others dog. As he was explaining his puppies need to learn how to behave with other dogs and I was blabbering about how simply beautiful, in a shockingly adorable puppy kind of way his dog was, our eyes met. We smiled at each other. Then my fourteen-year-old 60-pound dog bit his 9-week-old 10-pound puppy. I apologized profusely and he insisted that his puppy was fine, but the moment was gone. As they walked down the beach and away from Buster and me, I realized I hadn’t gotten either of their names.

Still, lesson learned.