Thursday, July 17, 2008

New Yorkers and Their Dogs

One thing that impressed me about New York and more specifically, New Yorkers, was their attitude toward their dogs. I mean, there are people walking their dogs everywhere there. All sorts of dogs. Big dogs, little dogs, purebred dogs, mixed breed dogs, dogs in purses, dogs on leashes...I'm starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book now. Seriously, though, in a lot of the larger cities I've visited, dogs are popular to a certain extent, but a lot of people who are apartment dwellers tend to either have no pets, cats, or small dogs.

And they go into stores with their dogs, and it's quite okay! Now THAT is what I liked. Being a dog lover, it was quite okay to brush up against a Black Lab in the Wal-Green's in the lobby of the Empire State Building or to stand next to a German Shepherd mix in Grand Central Station. I can't help but compare that to an incident that I saw take place here in Grinchville, South Carolina a few months ago at a local Wal-Mart.

Now, we ALL know that Wal-Mart is far from the ultimate shopping experience. It's more like the shopping equivalent of Dante's lowest level of Hell. One day, this woman needed to run in for just a moment to grab something, and she had a small dog, a puppy, with her. Naturally, she did not want to leave her baby in the car. Keep in mind, it was a PUPPY, and a small breed, at that. I think maybe a Shih Tzu or Maltese...something small and cute and furry. THE ASSHOLE MANAGER WOULD NOT LET HER TAKE IT IN! I mean, she was not going to put the puppy down on the floor to run around...she told him that, and that she was only going to be a few minutes. And he still would not let her take her puppy in there. As I told a friend of mine, I'm more offended by most of the clientele there, especially some of the kids, than I am by a dog. Then again, I like dogs better than I like most people.

I will say a good thing about the local Hobby Lobby, though. I had to run in there one day to grab a couple of things for a mosaic I was working on, and I had Sitka with me. She's one of my Huskies, and she was all of about three months old at the time. I carried her in with me since I didn't want to leave her in the car, and everyone who worked there made over her like she was a baby! One person did ask me if she was a wolf pup, though! That made me laugh.

COMING SOON TO THE WITCH'S BLOG! Parenting tips, Appalachian Witchy Style! When we were at the family reunion in Connecticut, the darling Czech Pecker and I were talking to one of his cousins, Kara, who also has two children, both girls, around the same age as our own two Spawns of Satan. We were talking about parenting styles, things we've seen other people do that we thought were too strict, what we do that might seem a bit unconventional to some, etc. Kara suggested to me that I put some of our parenting style stuff on my blog, so I will be doing just that. I just hope that nobody from the South Carolina Department of Social Services will be reading it. At any rate, I haven't decided yet if I am going to do it as a single blog entry where I lay it all out there at once, or if I will do it as part of a daily "tip" a little at a time at the end of each blog entry. When some of my brain cells settle back down in a day or two, I'll figure it out.

So, I'm STILL trying to play catch-up here. It's been kind of hard because the kids want to do this and that, go swimming, yada yada yada. I will upload my vacation photos tomorrow so I can do a photo blog entry, complete with my usual smart ass captions. That is, as soon as I run my errands to the school uniform store, to the pet supply store, to Target, to print some photos out, and so on...

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