A fine reason to blog again: Illicit Guide Dogs

A five month hiatus from blogging, and what made me think it would be a good idea to post? Not my Cherry Blossom 10-mile race, which I completed on April 3 (maybe I'll get around to that...first race in 18 months since my Really Bad Fall derailed my running career). Not getting my ass out of bed at 4:45 AM this morning to go running with a running group that meets at 5 (WTH). Not signing up to be a buddy runner for Girls on the Run. Nope. It was a fake Guide Dog on Metro.

Yesterday I went to a meeting in Rosslyn with my boss and our EVP. On our way back to downtown on Metro, we saw a “guide dog” who was wearing a doggy backpack with a patch that said “guide dog” on it. It was like this dog, below, but its hair was cut so you could see its eyes (thanks, Wikipedia, for the image) (for the record, it's a Hunagarian Puli. Who knew? I described it to my colleague, and she figured it out).


I had suspicions immediately, but they grew when the dog jumped onto the Metro seat and began licking its owner's face, and sitting in the seat like a person would ride.

But the shenanigans were confirmed when the owner also got off at Metro Center and the dog refused to get on the escalator. The lady was literally trying to drag him onto it, and he wouldn't budge. She finally dropped the leash and he bounded up the escalator, looking back the whole time as if he couldn't believe he was getting to take this ride.

I'm not sure where Metro Police was for this little charade.

My dad has often joked that we should strap a pack on Turkey, call her a guide dog, and take her anywhere. At least Turkey would look the part! For all our joking about it, I was shocked to see it actually in play. The lady seemed a little “off,” too...but that's pretty much par for the course on Metro.