We carry dogs on our buses, 50p for a single trip or 75p for a Dog Day Rover. We can only carry two dogs at any time and indeed drivers can refuse to carry dogs if the feel they are not under full control of their owners.
So yesterday when I pulled on to the Harbour Side I looked twice at the dog waiting at the stop. A Pit Bull Terrier type, thug, straining at the lead, drool running down it's chin by the bucket full, got to have at least a dog ASBO against it. Owner got on and showed ticket to Paignton Zoo and Dog Rover. The poor thing had been let out from the Zoo for a day out. They went upstairs, good, a long way from me.
Two stops down the road an other dog, a sweet black and white collie. The type that appear on One Man and His Dog and on calendars showing nice dogs of the world. Our friend upstairs would never in a million years appear on such a calendar. In fact the only time he would have his photo taken would be so he could be posted up in the local police station. Having concern for the safety of the nice, sweet, lovable sheep dog, a close relative of Lassie I told the owners that there was a dog upstairs and it would be a good idea, and not wanting blood and guts all over the upper deck, if they stayed down stairs. Which they did. The elderly owner thanked me for passing on the information and as he walked down the bus he did add that his dog wasn't too keen on other dogs. I smiled sweetly at the dog and told him he was, "A good dog. " like you do.
We got to the Zoo. Fang the Destroyer and his owner came down stairs and the two dog made eye contact. All hell broke loose. Shep the nice, sweet, lovable star of every dog food advert for the last 10 years went berserk. He was definitely after BLOOD in a big way. It was all the owner could do to hold him back. Any vet on the bus would have immediately pull him down as a rabid dog. Barking Mad he was. Fang the Destroyer meanwhile looked at Shep with complete disdain and sat down and scratched behind his ear gently a couple of time while he waited for me to open the doors. He then got of and left his mark wetly on the bus stop without loosing his composure for a single second. Shep on the other hand spend the rest of the journey telling everyone on the bus exactly how he would have made mince meat out of Fang if only his owner hadn't restrained him. If he had been let loose, he wanted everyone to know, then he could have torn Fang to shreds. Yeah. Right.
You can never tell by appearances.
I love cats by the way.
4 comments:
It was great to see your blog listed for the keyword 'dogs' at blogsearch.sg ... I liked your story. it was nice to read
I am delighted to learn that the "dog day rover" is not limited to dogs bearing that name......
Did anyone see that road rage bus driver who decided to speed past a funeral cortege - terrible!
anyone had any other similar experiences?
Yes I'm a cat person too...only five at the moment as sadly one got run over a few weeks back...
We do also have a dog (the missus likes to have one)...
And, of all things, a couple of ducks, (my twin teenagers insisted). Yeah I know, but I tell you this...you really haven't lived until you've had free-range duck eggs with your bacon and fried bread...chlorestrol-free it ain't but the taste is truly superb.
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