In the interests of full disclosure, my wife Amy and I don't take our dog Lucy for a ride in the car unless it's absolutely, positively necessary. Why? Lucy hates being in the car, doesn't like to see other cars, is upset by other dogs riding in cars, and basically loses her anxiety-ridden mind at anyone and everything she sees. In a nutshell, we'd rather road-trip with the car full of angry hornets with the windows up.

However, I've noticed over the years that many people (maybe even you) feel exactly the opposite. They take their dog(s) nearly everywhere with them. You see dogs poking their heads out of passenger windows all the time around Rockford. You even see the occasional idiot (if that's too harsh, feel free to substitute "moron") driving down East State Street with their dog standing in their lap. And, of course, in summertime we have far too many stories about people leaving their dogs in a super-heated car (by "far too many" I mean any).

While doing some shopping over the weekend at a rather popular store (named after some guy named Sam), I happened to hear a car horn honking over and over again. Following the source of the honking, I noticed a golden retriever sitting in the driver's seat of  an SUV, front paws on the middle of the steering wheel, blaring that car horn like a treat was being offered for each individual honk, or more likely, like it was sick and tired of running Saturday errands. After realizing that the dog was in no distress whatsoever, several of us had a good laugh as we watched and waited for the owner to return. I had to leave before the person came out of the store, but I have the idea the dog kept it up, because the horn was still wailing as I drove away.

Little did I know that the exact same scenario was playing out at the exact same time in a place called Grove City, Ohio:

And this guy really has to work on his lack of patience:

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