When dog ownership meets public spaces, is it a tail of shame or joy?

I feel dead inside right now. I feel flat.

I’ve always been a passionate person. Even if it’s a belief that’s unpopular, my detractors can’t ever say I’m not over the top with it. I feel things to my marrow, whether matters of justice, creativity, or love.

I’ve done something in my private life that I swore I never would. Worse, it affects others. Worst, it was in public. Others may know. Others may have seen.

So I’m here to put my cards on the table, New Jersey.

For years now, I’ve had powerful feelings. Feelings so deep that mere human words seem to reduce them.

Yet if these feelings could be summed up in eight words, they would be… No one brings a dog to a mall.

I’ve been vocal (hell, I’ve screamed about it) with my thoughts about people who treat their dogs like the children they are not and bring them along wherever they go.

People bringing dogs into malls, setting them inside shopping carts and wheeling them around grocery aisles, pretending ordinary pets are somehow emotional support animals to take them into restaurants and on planes, and even shoving them inside handbags like Paris Hilton to bring them into doctor’s offices.

I’ve seen it all. And hated every minute of it.

It’s unsanitary, it’s arrogant, it’s violating health codes in some situations, and it’s putting your unhealthy obsession with your pet above a stranger’s possible allergic reactions. There are so many reasons I’ve been against this for so long, and have thought those of you who do it are selfish jerks.

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Now… I’m one of you.

Sort of.

So, it was Father’s Day, and I spent the morning deep cleaning the single-family home I’ve been renting. I’m moving, and the owner has prospective tenants coming to see it. We needed to get out of the place for a while for it to be shown. It was me, my 20-year-old son, my 18-year-old daughter, and our dog. I didn’t want to leave a dog in the house with strangers coming both for their safety and the dog’s. I didn’t need them getting nipped or him getting out.

So we’re trying to figure out where to go and what to do for an hour while the place is being looked at. I suggested we go to a diner and leave the dog in the car with some water and the air on. My daughter feels Finn gets separation anxiety if left in a car, even safely, for just 20 minutes.

She suggested that my son and I go, and she would wait with the dog in the parking lot. I wasn’t going to do that to my daughter. So we thought about a park, but it was pouring rain. Looking at the unique problem as one of logistics and not long-held convictions, I suggested going to Lowe’s.

I needed something for the upcoming move anyway, and Lowe’s has a clear policy that well-behaved dogs are allowed and welcome in their stores. So we did it.

For the first time in my life, I brought a dog into a store. And I feel a bit dirty.

Granted, this was a very special set of circumstances, and at a store where they have signs welcoming your animal. Yet I’m not thrilled with myself.

Sure, it was more her dog than mine in this scenario, and I never even held the leash. Sure, it violated no policy. Sure, three different store workers stopped to play with him and ask me questions about him, and didn’t mind at all. One woman told me it’s why she likes working there.

Yet I feel I’ve let myself down. Like I’ve gone not only to the Dark Side but became a Sith Lord in one fell swoop. Like, there will now always be this asterisk next to my name whenever I try to discuss this social etiquette topic again.

It was one time! I swear! I didn’t even hold the leash!

Oh, and for you dog lovers who may be wondering, yes, Finn loved it. He acted as though he were taken to Disney World, yet he was very well-behaved. He was a very good boy.

I, having done this, not so much.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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