pet connection

I was in Miami Beach with my family over the Thanksgiving holiday, and the first day we found ourselves on Lincoln Street, a lengthy pedestrian mall, what we were told was the proverbial epicenter of South Florida chic, the place to see and be seen.

Store windows enticed people inside where shelves and racks bulged with enticing holiday products (one boutique owner called it “stock-and-awe”), and street cafes were crammed with people sipping lattes, devouring ambroisal heaps of food, sharing desserts and bobble-heading the cornucopia of people and pets passing by.

While my wife Teresa and daughter Mikkel shopped and shopped and shopped (many hours), my 16-year-old son Lex and I did a lot of storefront leaning and watching. Over several hours I swear we saw as many breeds of dogs walk by as struts the floor at Westminster. Giant Mastiffs, Irish wolfhounds, Great Danes and St. Bernards passed by as did skeeter-sized Yorkies and Chihuahuas. We saw tiny toy poodles, standard poodles, giant poodles.

Some dogs had no hair (Chinese crested), others had lots of hair (komondor, Old English sheepdogs). Dogs strutted by with no nose (bulldogs, pugs) while other dogs crotch-sniffed with Jimmy Durante-sized snouts (Afghans, borzoi, collies) The doggie palate was in full bloom with white dogs (Maltese, West Highland white terrier, bichon frise), black dogs (Labrador retrievers, Scottish terriers, Schipperke), gray dogs (Weimaraner), even black-and-white dogs (Dalmatian, Boston terrier). Some dogs were almost dragging the ground (basset hounds, dachshund, Corgis) while others seemed to walk on stilts (greyhounds, salukis and whippets).

The researcher in me looked to see if the pet owners were using head-collars or walking harnesses with their pets; the behaviorist inside watched to see which dogs were socialized, dominant or submissive when they crossed paths with other dogs; the veterinarian in me looked for obesity, limping, head tilts, even a whiff of peridontal disease when I petted a passer-by who came over to say “hi.”

But it was the Sci-Fi part of me that wondered what would happen if aliens suddenly landed on Lincoln Street in Miami Beach.

The humans all looked about the same (slight variations in skin tone, color of hair and size), but all those four legged creatures, what were they? No way they’d ever think they were one-and-the-same, all derived from the wolf. I grew up on a farm and cows looked like cows, horses looked like horses, and chickens like chickens. You don’t have to wait for alien confirmation that dogs are indeed, the most plastic of species.

Share & Enjoy

Facebook	Twitter	Google Buzz	Digg
Technorati	StumbleUpon	Delicious	Email