Who’s driving here? Pooch on the wheel!

(What really irks me) Next time you’re in your car, take a good look around. How many drivers can you count with their pooch on their lap? Ain’t it cute when they stick their little noses on the window, with their headgear, looking all innocent? What once was the domain of little white haired ladies and some elderly gents, has become mainstream. Yes, thank you Ms. Hilton for making the dressed up pooch en vogue. The personification of the ornamental canine, the overdressed Chihuahua and the associated rights that their owners believe their furry critters should have, has gotten way out of bounds.

Surely, people use them as companions, many even have physician’s prescriptions that they must be allowed a dog for therapeutic reasons, just to circumvent the “no pet” laws of their apartment or condo association. Yet, does this also include their pooch to take a comfortable seat in your lap while you’re operating your vehicle?

Some may say that it’s not anymore risky as it is to text and drive or accept/make phone calls while driving. Absolutely, point taken. Yet, there are plenty of states passing laws against texting & driving or demand a hands free kit to be installed to accept or make phone calls. I don’t see any such law to prevent the driver to have their ankle biter sniffing the steering wheel at 65mpH. In dangerous situations, the driver can always drop the cellphone, try to do the same with your lap creature! It would immediately be outruled as a violation against the rights of the pet. Can you imagine PETA coming your way when they discover that you flung your dog out of the way in a traffic situation that demanded your immediate action?

In 2008, the LA Times reported an attempt by Bill Maze to create a law that forbids dogs on driver’s laps while operating a vehicle.  Maze says he introduced the bill after seeing a woman driving with three dogs on her lap. He says pets are a distraction that put motorists and their passengers at risk. The bill, which would have introduced a fine to drivers with a lapdog, passed the assembly with a 44-11 vote. Ultimately, the bill was literally terminated, though. The Govern…ator, had other plans and veto’d the bill. One can only speculate why. I’m not about to aim at his ties to Hollywood and the countless starlets and other folks of questionable sexual orientation with a dog on their lap…but… Well, you get my drift.

Logically, celebrities of the caliber of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Rush Limbaugh ( see the pattern of inadequacy and ridicule here?) objected to the law as well. “Talk about the land of fruits and nuts,” Limbaugh told listeners, in his nationally syndicated radio show.

What’s really fruity and most certainly nuts, is to entertain the notion to have a furbag sitting on your lap, while you’re endangering other motorists. Without regard for others, the inept dog owner seems to believe that their dog must sit close by to feel comfortable. As a matter of fact, I believe that the dog owner needs to feel the furry critter on their lap more than the pooch needs to feel their owners lap under their asses.

I also believe that there needs to be a broad law that forbids dogs to ride anywhere but in a kennel, and if the dog is too large, harnessed, similar to child seat restraints, onto the backseat or cargo area of a SUV. Not humane, some critter owners may protest. It’s not about being humane. It’s a dog we’re talking about. Most often a dog that wouldn’t even survive if it had to depend on its own in the wild. The personification of the common household pooch has to stop. However, let’s not get started on the whole clothing line for dogs and the starlets and wannabes who rather carry their dog than letting them rely on their own 4 legs. It’s gotten out of hand and it needs to stop.

For the record; I do like dogs. The bigger, more schooled, attentive and useful the better. Other than personal comfort I have yet to hear a plausible argument for any handheld canine that doesn’t stand higher than 10″, yelps like the squeak of a rubber duck and must be dressed to achieve cuteness value.

Sniper

Tags: dog in drivers seat driving with dog lap dog