Showing posts with label dog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Reslution #3 - It's Been a Long Time Since I Did the Stroll

I haven't used a stroller lately, but as I recall, the term 'stroller' is actually short for 'baby stroller.' You may think that is a point not worth making, and, believe me, I wish you were right.  But you are wrong.  And for that reason, we have resolution #3 - this year you resolve to push babies, and only babies, in strollers. 

Do you have a lot of paperwork you need to carry around from place to place? It happens to the best of us. What does not happen to the best of us is loading those papers into assorted supermarket plastic bags, plastic bags now disintegrating with age, and then stacking those bags into a stroller, which you then push through the city streets, pretending that you do not, in fact, look homeless.  Tell yourself that that well-dressed woman who just handed you a dollar mistook you for a friend of hers she borrowed that same amount from yesterday, but we both know she just checked off the "give charity" entry on her to-do list.  

Hmmmm, what solution is there to this situation? May I recommend a roller bag, a briefcase, or my personal favorite, a tote.  Totes are just perfect for toting stuff around - it's even right there in the name.  I don't care if you use a Marc Jacobs tote or a freebie one that, hypothetically says something about Dr. Phil needing to hold you (and, coincidentally comes from the supermarket, in case you are wed to the notion of procuring your paper transport needs there), a tote is the answer to your paper problem.

Similarly, while a stroller is intended for taking strolls with your baby or even your preschooler, it is not intended for making your way around the city with your 40-pound first grader.  I know, your first grader would prefer to be in a stroller, but so what? (Are we now taking direction from first graders? Because I dread the dinners of fluff, olives and goldfish crackers this approach is sure to result in.)  Also, clearly this is my opporutnity to mention that  many, many men I passed while pushing my stroller also claimed the stroller was their first choice when it came to transportation; they all thought it was simply hilarious to shout remarks like "Hey, would you push me around in a stroller?" or "That's the life."  Not surprisingly, I did not indulge them any more than I would indulge a first grader.  And, not surprisingly, somehow not a single woman ever voiced that desire.

Lastly, I cannot believe I have to say this, but it seems that I do. You may not push your pet in a stroller.  A baby stroller is not for pets.  In fact, a pet stroller is not for pets.  A pet stroller is simply a baby stroller manufactured for and purchased by a pet crazy.  You may not put a dog in it.  You may not put two dogs in it.  You may not put two dogs in it and then somehow get that stroller up onto the city bus and then give me an unprompted lecture about how you take your stroller of shih tzus to the movies with you and feed them popcorn.  (I got exactly what I deserved, of course, when I responded that popcorn is a choking hazard for dogs.  I learned that it is, in fact, perfectly safe if you pre-chew the popcorn for your dog.)

Piece of cake, then.  No baby = no stroller. It's as easy as that!  An exception is made, of course, for young children pushing dolls in strollers.  So cute! No exception is made, of course, for anyone else pushing dolls in strollers.  So creepy!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Sad But True

A dog is not a child.  There, I said it.  I have the best dog in the entire world (this has been proven through clinical trials), and Stella is still not a person.  What does this mean? A number of things.  For starters, it means I am not required to engage in long conversations at 6:30 AM with other dog owners about my dog - her likes, her dislikes, her hopes and dreams, her culinary preferences, which at one point included her own waste. I have contemplated buying a shirt for dog-walking purposes only that says "I have ACTUAL Children" to ward off these people who call their dogs "fur children," but I am concerned they will physically harm me.  Seriously (meaning both that I am being serious and that they will seriously harm me). 

Here's what else it means.  It means that Stella is much easier to take care of than a child.  When we first got Stella, we fielded a lot of knowing comments along the lines of, "It's like having another child, right?" I hope not.  Did you leave your child alone at 3 months old?  Do you serve him a bowl of the same kibble every day - on the floor? Did you have her trained to poop on the sidewalk at 5 months old? (Listen, please don't answer 'yes' to any of these questions in the comments section, because I am fairly certain I have a moral and legal obligation to report you to the proper authorities and I just can't spare the time.)  It also means that, unlike a child, a dog does not require daycare or play dates.  Really, she just doesn't, no matter how cute the name of the place is, or how many puns it contains.  She does, however, require cute vests and humiliating costumes.  That's just an irrefutable law of nature.