Ruff Ride
January 31, 2016 1:29 PM Subscribe
Somebody ring the buzzer for me please?
Seattle pooch, Eclipse, a Labrador-mix hound regularly rides the bus to the doggie-park, by herself. Somewhat surprisingly, the higher-ups at Seattle Metro Transit seem pretty chill about it all.
Seattle pooch, Eclipse, a Labrador-mix hound regularly rides the bus to the doggie-park, by herself. Somewhat surprisingly, the higher-ups at Seattle Metro Transit seem pretty chill about it all.
OMG. Not sure how I missed this on the first viewing, but the dog's owner has the same name as me. I guess I was just laughing so hard that I missed it.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:43 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:43 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Poor baby girl. Somebody needs to talk some sense into that owner of hers. If actual people can get beheaded on a bus, I hate to think what might happen to a dog alone. (I have heard of cats riding buses unmolested, but they have more natural defenses than sweet Labradors.)
posted by Countess Elena at 2:40 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 2:40 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
That owner must be pretty chill, too. My dog eventually became as neurotic as me. As a full-time user of public transportation I fully support animals riding by themselves any time.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:42 PM on January 31, 2016
posted by Room 641-A at 3:42 PM on January 31, 2016
That made me smile big.
posted by Uncle Grumpy at 4:05 PM on January 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Uncle Grumpy at 4:05 PM on January 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
If actual people can get beheaded on a bus, I hate to think what might happen to a dog alone.
I think the fact that my initial reaction to reading this was to baffeldly ask "okay, what the HELL are you talking about" suggests that public transit beheadings, be they human or canine, are vanishingly rare events.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:12 PM on January 31, 2016 [15 favorites]
I think the fact that my initial reaction to reading this was to baffeldly ask "okay, what the HELL are you talking about" suggests that public transit beheadings, be they human or canine, are vanishingly rare events.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:12 PM on January 31, 2016 [15 favorites]
From GenjiandProust's link about Dodger, the bus-riding kitty ...
Staggering onto the deck to give the driver a piece of my mind, I was shocked to discover that it was Sugar Bear, laying in a pool of sunlight in the middle of the road, and outright refusing to move for the motorist.
(And, yes... I know ... I no longer allow my fluff-ball to roam around outside.)
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:47 PM on January 31, 2016
"I was shocked when she told me Dodger was always on there and liked to sit on the seats because they are warm from where people have been sitting.
"The drivers buy cat food for him and he sits on people's laps.
"Sometimes he just sits in the middle of the road and waits for the bus to turn up before he gets on."I inherited an ex-girlfriend's cat, Sugar Bear, who was paranoid beyond belief, from inappropriate handling. Moving-shadows sent the poor thing scuttling under the bed. Anyway, after about six months of normal socialization, he started coming 'round, and acting like a normal cat. I knew his rehabilitaion was complete the morning I was awoken about 8 am on a Sunday morning, to the on and off blaring of a car-horn in the street, outside my bedroom window.
Staggering onto the deck to give the driver a piece of my mind, I was shocked to discover that it was Sugar Bear, laying in a pool of sunlight in the middle of the road, and outright refusing to move for the motorist.
(And, yes... I know ... I no longer allow my fluff-ball to roam around outside.)
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:47 PM on January 31, 2016
Poor baby girl. Somebody needs to talk some sense into that owner of hers. If actual people can get beheaded on a bus, I hate to think what might happen to a dog alone.
I want to be concise here because my questions is genuine: What in the clownshitting fuck are you talking about?
As near as I can tell from Google this has happened exactly once in 2008 on a Greyhound in the middle of fucking nowhere, Manitoba. A wild and terrifying incident to be sure. But what experience in your life leads you to believe that a dog is in danger of being mutilated on a crowded bus in broad daylight in Seattle?
posted by cmoj at 5:03 PM on January 31, 2016 [4 favorites]
I want to be concise here because my questions is genuine: What in the clownshitting fuck are you talking about?
As near as I can tell from Google this has happened exactly once in 2008 on a Greyhound in the middle of fucking nowhere, Manitoba. A wild and terrifying incident to be sure. But what experience in your life leads you to believe that a dog is in danger of being mutilated on a crowded bus in broad daylight in Seattle?
posted by cmoj at 5:03 PM on January 31, 2016 [4 favorites]
Is the stop for the ride home the same as the stop going out? Or does he have to ride to the end of the line to go back when the bus turns around?
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:09 PM on January 31, 2016
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:09 PM on January 31, 2016
But what experience in your life leads you to believe that a dog is in danger of being mutilated on a crowded bus in broad daylight in Seattle?
Knowing what people can do to friendly, unattended animals.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:20 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Knowing what people can do to friendly, unattended animals.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:20 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
> That owner must be pretty chill, too.
When this broke in the local news ... oh, less than a year ago, but not much less, it had happened by accident because the owner was grabbing a smoke and hadn't yet finished.
The D-Rapidride line is one of 6 routes in Seattle which have a high-frequency bus for commuters, and these 6 are the only ones that allow boarding at the rear doors rather than the front, so the dog doesn't have to pay a fare on the bus; the owner taps its ORCA card on the reader at the bus stop. This owner and dogs are in my neighborhood, and I"ve seen the dog wearing its ORCA on the collar-- pretty normal for bigger dogs-- lapdogs are free on the bus, but bigger dogs pay the fare. That bus stop is also only served by 2 routes, and the other route (32) has different vehicles; the Rapidrides buses are different than all the other bus routes. If the dog got on the 32, it would be ejected at the next stop, which is the end of the line for the 32, and it would find itself at a familiar street corner, roughly the commercial center of the LQA neighborhood, and just 3 blocks from home.
By day, the D Rapidride is a safe bus in a safe bus system, though like all buses it's a mobile homeless shelter at night. I'd be incrementally more worried about an unattended dog in Belltown, at the dropoff, because it's a little sketchier, but the dog park is right at the bus stop. If a stranger met the friendly, unleashed dog and wondered who she belonged to, the natural thing to do would be to let her in the dog park, which is almost certainly what happened the first time.
Also, the next D would come through within 10-15 minutes during the daytime, depending on time/day. I think this is a sunny-side story about a slightly negligent owner who is compensated for by a smart dog, but the owner wouldn't be far behind if the dog did hop on the bus.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:35 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
When this broke in the local news ... oh, less than a year ago, but not much less, it had happened by accident because the owner was grabbing a smoke and hadn't yet finished.
The D-Rapidride line is one of 6 routes in Seattle which have a high-frequency bus for commuters, and these 6 are the only ones that allow boarding at the rear doors rather than the front, so the dog doesn't have to pay a fare on the bus; the owner taps its ORCA card on the reader at the bus stop. This owner and dogs are in my neighborhood, and I"ve seen the dog wearing its ORCA on the collar-- pretty normal for bigger dogs-- lapdogs are free on the bus, but bigger dogs pay the fare. That bus stop is also only served by 2 routes, and the other route (32) has different vehicles; the Rapidrides buses are different than all the other bus routes. If the dog got on the 32, it would be ejected at the next stop, which is the end of the line for the 32, and it would find itself at a familiar street corner, roughly the commercial center of the LQA neighborhood, and just 3 blocks from home.
By day, the D Rapidride is a safe bus in a safe bus system, though like all buses it's a mobile homeless shelter at night. I'd be incrementally more worried about an unattended dog in Belltown, at the dropoff, because it's a little sketchier, but the dog park is right at the bus stop. If a stranger met the friendly, unleashed dog and wondered who she belonged to, the natural thing to do would be to let her in the dog park, which is almost certainly what happened the first time.
Also, the next D would come through within 10-15 minutes during the daytime, depending on time/day. I think this is a sunny-side story about a slightly negligent owner who is compensated for by a smart dog, but the owner wouldn't be far behind if the dog did hop on the bus.
posted by Sunburnt at 5:35 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
Personally, I believe that Countess Elena raises a valid concern. My own thoughts were more along the lines of dog-napping, and I agree that this is fairly irresponsible behaviour on the part of the owner. I've known two people get their pooches stolen, so it's not inherently super rare. At the risk of committing some unknown "ism", the interview I watched with the owner didn't inspire me with a lot of confidence in his decision-making process.
That said, I don't think think that literal dog-decapitation is really a concern of hers, and that those suggesting that this is what she meant have reached a pretty uncharitable interpretation of her words, which I read as flamboyant exaggeration, to make a point.
Finally, I am not convinced that "What in the clownshitting fuck are you talking about?" is a respectful way to offer a different viewpoint.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 5:39 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
That said, I don't think think that literal dog-decapitation is really a concern of hers, and that those suggesting that this is what she meant have reached a pretty uncharitable interpretation of her words, which I read as flamboyant exaggeration, to make a point.
Finally, I am not convinced that "What in the clownshitting fuck are you talking about?" is a respectful way to offer a different viewpoint.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 5:39 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
The comment, as written, suggested that since people are known to be decapitated on public transport we should expect that the same or worse would happen to a large, friendly, apparently well-known dog. If that's "flamboyant exaggeration to make a point," then so is my expression of incredulity at such a wildly alarmist and factually incorrect assertion.
posted by cmoj at 6:36 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by cmoj at 6:36 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
Russia's way ahead of Seattle on this one...
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:36 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:36 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Toronto bus drivers would kick that dog off in a heartbeat.
Also came here to post the Russian subway dogs... was beat to it.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:51 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also came here to post the Russian subway dogs... was beat to it.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:51 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I vaguely remembered a Russian subway-riding-dog story from the past. Didn't realize that there were a bunch of different freaking tribes of them.
Sad to encounter this story, as I worked my way through those two links ...
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 8:21 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sad to encounter this story, as I worked my way through those two links ...
In Moscow, there is a statue of a dog named Malchik at the Mendeleyevskaya station. But Malchik was a stray, one of the many canine geniuses who have learned to commute to work, begging for food on the Moscow metro . Malchik was stabbed to death by a deranged Russian model, and the people of Moscow erected this statue in commemorative outrage.Sniff.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 8:21 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think Countess Elena's comment is a joke on children or women riding the bus unattended. My first thought on seeing this was "I wonder how quickly CPS would be called if a kid did this." If it was not meant as parody, my apologies, but given the beheading thing, this sounds like the worst "think of the children!" sort of bullshit that would be the reaction about a child.
(Poe's law and all that.)
posted by Hactar at 12:50 PM on February 1, 2016
(Poe's law and all that.)
posted by Hactar at 12:50 PM on February 1, 2016
Smithers, find this dog. I want to make him my executive vice president.
posted by intermod at 10:23 PM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by intermod at 10:23 PM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by Sternmeyer at 1:34 PM on January 31, 2016 [10 favorites]