Sunday, January 15

Leave your dog at home

On Sunday I saw a picture in The Post & Courier, Charleston, SC, of Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster sitting at his desk in the Lt. Gov.’s office playing with his bulldog Boots. McMaster is due to become Governor of SC when Mrs. Haley moves on to the United Nations next week. Will the dog be in the Governor’s office?

I thought this is some kind of crapola. Who does McMaster think he is bringing his dog to the office? Bobby Kennedy, who brought some big hound called Brutus, I believe, to the Attorney General’s suite in the Justice Department, and scared dozens of government employees. Franklin Roosevelt who had Fala by his side all the time; I cut FDR some slack since the White House was where he lived and worked. 

Obviously, I am out of touch with many current opinions and practices. Today men marry men, women marry other women, some men take up with goats, etc, etc. You get the picture that yesterday’s “aren’t done's” are today’s “par for the course.” 

Nestle’s, for example, allows its 1,000 plus employees to bring their dogs into its City Place headquarters in Gatwick, Scotland, daily.

Slate has published an extensive article on the subject. I found it interesting among these pros and cons someone finally asked, “what does the dog think about all this?” 

Personally, I believe if a dog likes to run around, bark at the delivery man, chase cats, and bite people who think his tongue hanging out of his mouth is an invitation to pet him, he should stay home and greet you at the door with a tennis ball in his mouth.

Now all the dog lovers in the world need not jump all over my bones. It is simply this man’s opinion that dogs are probably better off at home and non-dog owning employees ought to be allowed to get on with the work at hand without having to acknowledge the boss's dog.