Dogs Guide

The joke is on Barking Mad. Pema and I rock up at a specialist clinic today to deal with my injuries sustained when being wrongfully arrested for travelling legally on the bus last month. Pema is sniffing a lot more than is acceptable before we enter the surgery, and I'm wondering why; thinking perhaps it's because we haven't been out in public much lately except at our glorious dog beach. Someone inside opens the door for us and I'm asked to move ahead into the waiting room where I promptly put Pema 'in her house' under the chair.

Whew, I'm thinking, so far so good. No idiots assuming to know the law needing to tell me only seeing-eye dogs allowed ("yeah? my dog can see you don't know what you are talking about"), or dogs are not allowed because they are a health risk ("she's a bitch and I'm feeling about the same right now, so please leave us alone") and while these thoughts are going around in my head a GIANT GOLDEN LAB COMES BOUNDING DOWN THE HALL is full flight from the front of the building and heading to see the OTHER golden lab at the back of the building.

Sniffers as they are, GIANT GOLDEN LAB (GGL), pulls up sharply, claws in the carpet and decides that Pema, the new bitch, is a LOT MORE INTERESTING than her relative in the back and does a sharp left where the appropriate nose to butt dance takes place and hierarchy is sorted for all time. Aha, I laugh, at long last after a very traumatic month. Is that why my G.P. sent me to this specialist? Did she know all along? I look around and animal cartoon books compliment the 1994 National Geographic. We know which one I picked.

We've been topped and I love it. When medical doctors have the dogs as 'an integral part of the practice', and it wasn't because of the hard work of Barking Mad, we know we have finally met common scents. Anyone with a visiting dog in aged or hospital care knows the benefits of dogs well, as do the medical professionals regardless of their personal view. I meet GGL again as I leave the surgery and she is exiting the other room with her doctor/mistress and most recent patient. HREOC discussion on assistance animals and the Disability Discrimination Act.

GOOD DOGS HELP PEOPLE GET AND STAY WELL.