"Well how about taking one of our dogs for a walk?"
"Come again?" You ask the female zoo employee.
"Is there something wrong with what I just said?" She asks while cocking her to the side in an almost canine-like matter.
"No, nothing, its.. just that I am surprised that you would allow a complete stranger like myself to walk in here and walk out of here with another of your dogs. Aren’t you afraid I might take the dog and run?"
She looks at you funnily for a minute before smiling and then chuckles lightly at your apparent ignorance. She then stands up before you and takes on a more business like stance.
"Do you know why this place is called ‘Kennel for a Day?"
"No, I don’t know why you call it ‘Kennel for a Day?" You tell her.
"Well my fellow employees and I call it by that name because we provide a service to those people who have the desire or want to have a dog, but can’t afford one or have the time for one. Do you know how many people out there who would like to have a dog?"
"No, I am afraid not."
"Plenty, but most of those people don’t have either the money, the time or the patience at taking care of one. So we here at ‘Kennel for a Day’ give those people an idea as to what is really like to have a dog by their side. And all without paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars to buy one, give it a lot of love and care and be there for it. Those people come in here, they ask us if they could spend some time with a dog of their choice and we give them that much needed experience." The female zoo employee lectures to you.
"That’s a great service you and your fellow employees provide to potential dog lovers. But what about preventing one of those people from walking off with one of your dogs?"
"Easily taken care by a homing chip surgically planted in the neck of each of our dogs."
"Okay." You tell her while feeling a little embarrassed for asking such a question with an obvious answer.
She smiles at you and reaches out to you to give you a friendly, reassuring pat on your shoulder.
"No need to be embarrassed about asking me that question, sir. I get something like that nearly every day from concerned people like you. Now are you still interested in taking one of our dogs for a walk?" She inquires of you.
"Well I really didn’t come here to walk one of your dogs. I was just interested in checking this place out and seeing your dogs."
"Thinking of buying a dog sometime soon?" She thoughtfully asks you.
"I am thinking of getting one, but there is so many dog breeds out there that I am just unsure which breed I should get." You tell her while scratching at an inch creeping along the back of your neck and down the shoulder where she patted you.
"Then you are still at the right place." She tells you while you stare at her bemusedly. "Kennel for a Day’ also allows people who have the time, the money and the patience to own a dog, the opportunity to see and perhaps walk the dog that they are interested in."
You smile at her and feel a warm roll of pleasure pass through you when she smiles back at you. And you can’t help but feel lucky for coming to this place after all. Lucky because this women is going to help you find the right dog for you. And all you have to do is walk one of her dogs to see if that dog is right for you.
She smiles at you and you start to feel warm and eager all over.
"So are you interested in walking one of our dogs now?" She playfully says to you.
You don’t say a thing about whether or not you are interested in her offer, you just nod your head and watch her smile get bigger. You then watch her as she turns away from you and walks back to the dogs milling about on the other side of the room. And as you watch her walk up to them, you can’t help but smile and feel eager as her canine charges pad on over to her like eager, little children. The dogs look up at her while wagging their tails and panting contentedly and excitingly. They wiggle their bodies playfully and do all sorts of canine things to get her attention. And from across the room their eagerness at wanting to be noticed by the female zoo employee is somehow passed on to you. And you find yourself eager and excited at what they and their female handler are doing. You deeply find yourself wondering which dog is she going to pick for you for your first walk. Will it be that handsome German Shepherd dog at her left? Or maybe it will be that huge St. Bernard who will be your dog for an hour or more. Or what about that attractive female Standard Poodle with the sport coat that is sitting on its haunches and is practically begging for her handler’s attention? Who is she going to pick for you?
But as time begins to pass you and everyone else by, you feel less eager to have her pick one of the dogs for you. Instead you feel just as eager as the dogs who want her to pick them. And with some mild surprise you find yourself wishing that she would pick you and take you for a walk. You continue to feel all warm and eager about what is going on right now before you. But you are starting to feel impatient because you want her to notice you again, she....