Is that a Cairn Terrier?

So, supposedly a good way to meet people is through your dog. This has certainly been the case for me with my energetic little Cairn, Brogan. He's so beautiful, he stops traffic. Seriously.

Today, walking to the grocery store, a woman in a black Volvo slowed her car down to a crawl on a fairly well-traveled street and called out to me, "Is that a Cairn Terrier?"

Yes.

"I used to have one of those! He was the sweetest dog I ever had," she said, as traffic started to collect behind her.

Yeah, they're great dogs, I said while Brogan took his, oh, eighty-fifth pee of the walk.

"He's just *beautiful,*" she cooed from across the street, poking along as she was. "What great coloring!"

(I get this all the time since I started getting a demi on my hair. First people compliment my dog, then they say "what great coloring." Funny how that works!)

Finally, she decided to speed up, and as she drove away, she waved out the widow and yelled, "Bye, baby!"

And I was thinking, Lady, you don't know the half of what a baby this dog is!

Last week, Single Gay Female and I headed up to Forest Park for a little hike. SGF loves walking the dogs, missing her Aeridale like she does. On the way to the trailhead this week, Brogan was whimpering and yelping with neurotic excitement *so much* that SGF said, "Brogan, you need a magazine rack for all your issues." (Having never heard this said to a dog before, I cut up laughing.) Later, SGF told him, "Dude! You've got so much social anxiety!" That, he does.

But he sure does attract people. At the grocery store, a woman from the meat department was outside taking a break. (You can imagine how much Brogan loved *her!*) She asked after his royal Cairn-ness, commenting, "I have two German Shepards and I was thinking they needed a little playmate. I've been thinking about a Cairn. But you don't find many of them in Portland. " I guess not. I guess that's why anyone who has ever known and loved a Cairn seems to stop me on the sidewalk, on the hiking trail, at the grocery store, at the dog park. Doesn't matter where. They come out of the woodwork.

Kinda sweet that my little guy's so *purty* that he stops traffic.