The outside of the building was a gleaming, crisp white. Its colorful logo sprawled across the front. I parked my car, stepped out and took a deep breath. "Here you go.", I thought to myself. "You've become one of those people."
As I entered through the front doors, I immediately noticed to my right, the department I was looking for. I approached it cautiously. I had been in one of these types of places before, I knew what to expect.
There, before me lay a vast array of sweaters, parkas, shirts, shoes and even costumes. All this outerwear for one species.....the canine companion of the human race, the dog.
I walked down the isle and began my search. Yes, I was there to buy a shirt. A shirt for the dog. A shirt for Runtly. I had the perfect excuse for making such a purchase. This was no ordinary shirt. It was not a fur lined coat or a striped knitted sweater, this was a shirt for anxiety. I thought about that for awhile, wondering if they made them in human sizes. I thought about that again. Oh yes, yes they do. They're called straight jackets. Perhaps I needed one.
Runtly, the Jack Russel Terrier, has an anxiety issue. He wants to ride in the car. He can hardly wait to ride in the car, but once he is in the car and the car is moving, he is a nervous wreck. He would prefer to sit right in my lap and help me drive, but that is where I draw the line.....I will NOT be one of those people. Besides, it is not safe for the driver, the dog, or all the other people out on the road.
I picked the appropriate size and headed for the check out lane. On the way, by some miraculous act, a long stuffingless mallard duck jumped into my hands.
The nice young lady, who was going to ring up my order, asked me if that was all I needed. I assured her it was and as the total price of my two items flashed on the small screen, I had another thought. There went the pair of shoes I was going to buy..........for myself.
There are a couple of ways to look at this situation that our society has entered in to. One being that we care more for and spend more on our pets than we do our fellow man. Another is that, perhaps we have evolved enough to care about all creatures great and small.
It is indeed strange times that we live in when it comes to animals. There are endless videos of our furry domestic counterparts interacting with us on a whole new level. Even the evidence of wild creatures taking a liking to man, and not just for lunch, is astounding. The whales that seem to show thanks to the human who released it from a tangled net, the deer that walks up to the hunter in the woods, the moray eel that enjoys being petted by a scuba diver and the list goes on and on.
As I made my way back to the car, I sat and watched several other people enter the store in search of something for their pets. I thought back to a time, when I was a little girl, and spent hours dressing my cats in doll clothes.........If I'd only known.
Time will tell if the shirt is going to be a success, but trying to put it on him was like trying to stuff a wiggling toddler into a snow suit. By the time I was done, I didn't want to go anywhere and neither did Runtly.
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