Yesterday husband and I took the dogs and drove around the mountains to look at the leaves and then settled in at a dog-friendly winery with a pretty view. It was lovely. We were tucked into a nice corner and sitting next to a lovely couple who had brought their enormous 160-pound St. Bernard named Hagrid that attracted quite a bit of attention. Also notable was that the gentleman's parents were visiting with them from the UK, so the incident that follows was particularly embarrassing.
Around the other side of the tasting room was a breeder with a baby. She comes sidling over and sheepishly asks the couple, "can I ask a terrible question?" I expected what was coming was some perhaps insensitively worded question about the dog's size along with a holy moly I've never seen a dog so big! But, no. She said, "I have an 8 month old, and I wondered if I could put her on your dog's back and take a picture?"
I looked over at my husband and my eyes got really big while I heard the husband of the couple answer, "well, he's not really that great with kids..." I actually didn't see any evidence that was true, Hagrid seemed totally gentle and docile, I just got the impression they did not want this to go down. The breeder did not take the hint and countered, "oh, that's ok, we have a pit bull, so she's used to being around big dogs." That's some breeder logic for you! So the couple was just like, "uh, ok, I guess it's ok if it's just for a second."
So the breeder fluttered off oh so pleased with herself and this travesty went down. This beautiful dog as a prop for the baybee. And afterwards, Hagrid came back over and settled back in and the baybee started screeching. I guess it was great for the baybee to be pulled out of the carrier thing and plunked on a dog for a photo op.
I did hear the Brits murmuring about "sure can't take a hint". I was so embarrassed on her behalf and she didn't even have the damned sense to be embarrassed for herself.