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“Can I pet your dog?”
Ah, a phrase dogless dog lovers like me are all too familiar with. I don’t care if your pup is big or small, old or young, friendly or very uninterested in me. All I want to do is touch it, then suddenly, my day is a whole lot better (even if my friends are embarrassed that we’ve spent five minutes petting a stranger’s dog…again).
See, unlike the lucky folks who have a pet pooch of their own greeting them every time they come home, I don’t have that kind of love on a daily basis. And there are lots of dogless dog lovers out there just like me.
Maybe it’s because we’re allergic. Perhaps our landlord has a strict no pets policy. There’s even the possibility that despite our love of canines, we just can’t take on the responsibility right now.
Whatever the reason, all dog lovers who don’t own a pup can understand these habits.
