I left Kane
at home because I didn't want to deal with him on a leash and Ellie in my arms.
He still has a tendency to pull to other dogs and I was planning to make the
rounds at all the local pet stores (where I am referred to as "the owner
of Kane—you know Kane, that pit bull I told you about who is so friendly and
polite?").
Our first
stop was at Wood's Marathon. This is an old-style, full service gas station and
garage, where the attendants (all gruff old men or young hunky dudes) come out
and clean your windows for you while you pump your gas. They're very
dog-friendly, allowing dogs on leash inside the small room where they have the
register and the pop coolers, and they have a big old container full of
milkbones they hand out freely and slightly excessively. :-)
Kane is very
popular there, even with the owner who was bitten by a pit bull when he was a
kid and has slowly graduated from giving me
the treats to give to Kane, to giving Kane the treats out of his own hand.
There's a younger guy, maybe a few years older than me, who apparently had pits
while he lived in Texas and absolutely adores Kane; he's constantly offering me
money to buy Kane off my hands, joking around, knowing I'll never sell Kane for
any amount of money in the world. I have to watch him when he has the container
of milbones because when I haven't he's given Kane almost half the container!
Luckily, Kane has a fast metabolism and has maintained his svelte figure. ;-)
As you can
imagine, the sight of a fluffy girly puppy had all the big tough men melting to
pieces around Ellie.
