Well, I’ve failed the first test of acceptance in Paekakariki. Took Max for a walk, because, well, isn’t that what you do with dogs? You take them for walks? So we headed down to the beach, Max trotting along as fast as her three little legs could go, which wasn’t very fast at all. And we got to the beach, only, there wasn’t a beach, just murky waves crashing against the wall. So we walked back to the village, and as we passed under a shady shop veranda, Max plonked herself down and refused to move. The women in the adjacent shops came out to see what was going on. The older one gave me quite a telling off, “It’s too hot for her! I never take my old girl out at this time of the day. Only early in the morning or late at night.” She tut tutted her way back into her shop. The younger woman produced a bowl of water for Max, and knelt down to stroke her ears. Max really is a very sweet dog. I’m trying to train her to locate young allegeable lesbians, and do the cute thing to get their attention – but it’ll never work. The whole town already knows that I’m not a Real Dog Owner.
Posted by Fionnaigh at December 28, 2003 02:26 PMOh no! You're right, you'll be branded for the duration... maybe you could stage a dramatic rescue involving Max and win back the townspeople!
I got branded as a Bad Cat Owner once. Now I carefully explain to people immediately that my cat is ALLOWED to be an indoor cat and the SPCA said it was FINE because I CHECKED with them. It doesn't always head it off entirely but it introduces an element of reasonable doubt about my cat-owner credentials
Posted by: phreq at December 29, 2003 09:49 AM