Dogs and delivery men: part 3

One of the funniest stories with dogs was at a Ballet Supply dance shop in Texarkana. I had known the owner since we were kids. Her small store was in an older, mixed residential/commercial section that had a few homeless folks that would wander, begging for handouts. The store owner had a Dalmatian as a first impression of protection. However, the dog would go wild over anyone in uniform, or any black person he saw. I said "wild," but he was actually extremely excited.

The dog wasn't an attack dog because I played rough with it whenever I went in and the dog seemed to relish the attention. He would run and get a tug rope whenever I entered the store, and he knew when I came in, it was play time. Sometimes I could hardly get the packages in the door without this 125-lb. Dalmatian jumping on me wanting to play. I'd wrestle the tug rope from him and throw it toward the back room. He would bowl over everything in his path to retrieve it, and then the tug of war would start.

Dalmatians are amazingly strong for being so skinny. If I was in the store with the Dalmatian running loose and a customer came in, the dog wouldn't obey the owner and I'd have to corral the dog for her and lock it in the back room! One of the FedEx drivers would sound his horn and have the owner meet him in the parking lot after she'd locked the door in the back.