Saturday, June 15, 2019

Puppies and strangers

We got a puppy last weekend, and her name is Frederica. (We call her Freddy.) And yes, she is named after Nietzsche--I always said I would get a dog and name it after Nietzsche, because he thought women were dogs and so naming a dog in his honor seemed fitting.

Anyway, Freddy is an adorable black lab puppy. My parents got her a bright pink harness (yes dogs wear walking harnesses now, it's a thing), so even though she has a boy's name everyone knows she's a girl. We get stopped on the street all the time by people who want to meet Freddy; I don't know what it's like to have a baby but I'm pretty sure puppies draw a bigger crowd. I've talked to more strangers this week than I have in the past 6 months.

Today, Josh and I were walking with Freddy down a suburban street, and a young  African-American woman passed by. She said: "Hey! What an adorable black bitch!" When Josh and I hesitated (because she is a bitch, but how does one reply to that?), the woman laughed. "I mean me!" she said. "I would never call your dog a bitch. She's a cute puppy, though."

Getting a dog was worth it, if only for this one interaction. I'm still laughing.

3 comments:

Emily Hale said...

Aw! We had a black lab! I mean, ours was a mutt, but it was at least 1/2 lab, so that's what we think of it as.

Julia said...

Labs, of whatever fraction, are the best, in my opinion. I will send you a picture of Freddy!

Miss Self-Important said...

Puppies definitely draw a bigger crowd. Babies only draw women aged 40+. And you have to shoo everyone else away anyway b/c they have germs.