Dogs Can't Drive

I love going for walks with my mom, but I especially love our after dinner walks.  Mommy has calmed down after working all day and sitting in traffic and she has finished eating dinner and she is totally relaxed.  We walk around the neighborhood and while we walk, Mommy tells me about her day and asks me about mine and sometimes she even sings to me.  Tonight we were walking fast and I looked up in Mommy’s face and drew my eyebrows together.  Mommy knows that expression means I have a question.  “What is it, Ethel Frances?  Do you have a question?”  I wagged my tail to let her know she understood my face.  “I guess you want to know why I am in a hurry, right?”

Mommy knows me well and I wagged my tail again.  “I am sorry for walking fast.  It’s just that it is very cold outside tonight and it is raining. It’s just nasty out here.”  At least I knew what was going on and I didn’t have to worry that maybe I did something to put Mommy in a bad mood.  Mommy didn’t want me to be unhappy because she loves me, so she stopped walking so fast.

I was looking around on the ground for big sticks to play with and I looked up and down the block to see if any of my friends were outside and then I saw something very strange.  There was a parked car in the parking lot and I heard barking coming from it.  I barked back and ran up to the car and I couldn’t believe my eyes. A dog was alone in that car – only a dog.  No people!  It was a big black Chow Chow and it was sitting in the seat where Mommy sits when she drives.  How is that possible?

I got closer to the car and jumped up to get a better look and I got a better look of a dog sitting behind the steering wheel and just as I thought, it was alone.  I got so excited and I started jumping up and down.  “Oh boy!  I didn’t know dogs can drive!  I wonder when Mommy will teach me how.  I wonder if she will get me my very own car.  I wonder if there are any cars small enough for Izzy to drive.  I wonder if LuLu will be too scared to drive.”  The more I thought about driving the more excited I got.  I was even thinking about where I would go if I could drive.  I would drive to my friends’ houses and I would drive to dog parks and…”  and then I felt Mommy’s hand on my back.

“Oh, Ethel Frances.  You are so happy and I think I know why.”  I stopped thinking about driving and I looked up at Mommy’s face.  “I bet you think that Chow Chow drove that car here.  Is that what you were thinking?”  I wagged my tail, not because I was happy but to tell Mommy that she was right.  “I’m sorry to disappoint you, honey.  That doggie didn’t drive.  It is waiting for its person to come back.  Dogs can’t drive, Ethel Frances, but I am happy to drive you to all of your favorite places.” 

While Mommy was talking, a woman was approaching and she walked right up to the Chow Chow’s car and said, “Hi, honey, did you miss me?  Did I take too long?”  She opened the door and the dog jumped into the back seat and they drove away.

My goal is to learn something new every day.  Today I learned that dogs can’t drive.