There used to be a rumor at the high school that I was an animal abuser and that whenever I was alone with Poodleface I beat him. Although we communicate really well, I think there are always going to be times we don't understand each other and make some sort of mistake. While we were attending school I tripped over him once and stepped on his paw twice, and there were several times where he stepped on my foot or walked into my legs. Whenever one of those things happened everyone nearby would start shouting that I was an animal abuser. It was really very annoying; I doubt there's anyone in the world who hasn't tripped on their dog at some point.
I had the flu a few months before I left high school and on my first day back I needed to talk to my science teacher about the test I'd missed. He gave us the period to work, so I decided not to wait until after class and told Poodleface to stay beside my desk while I went up to speak with the teacher. It was something I'd done lots of times; rousing a sleeping poodle and having him walk with me just to ask a question or hand in a work sheet isn't practical, and as long as he can see me he's perfectly willing to stay.
I'd barely said two words to the teacher before I heard nails skittering on linoleum and Poodleface came hurrying up the aisle to me. He looked frightened of something, and as I picked up the leash to reassure him a boy who sits near me started stammering that he'd thought Poodleface wanted to be petted.
He'd thought, he told me as I put my dog back under my desk, that the only reason I wouldn't let anyone pet Poodleface was to me mean to him, so as soon as I left him alone he tried to comfort him because he was probably really sad if I was abusing him and he could use all the love he could get. But Poodleface freaked out because he knows I'm the only one who ever touches him in school and he could clearly see that I was nowhere near him, and when he jumped the boy tried to grab him, and it became embarrassingly clear that I wasn't an animal abuser when Poodleface ran to me for reassurance.
Not that it did anything to stop the rumor, but it's a good lesson in why service dogs shouldn't be petted. Even if you really want to.
No comments:
Post a Comment