dogbox or not?

We have a chain on top of our box, and I like to let my buck dog ride in that spot for short trips. Once we were at a red light and buck suddenly had way more freedom than he should have. The chain came unbolted from the box and I narrowly escaped having a long range dog hunting in town. I jumped out and got a hand on him before he unloaded himself. Those two dog couplers are handy little things to have around. When the chain broke, I was able to use a coupler and secure buck to the front of the box.

I'm surprised no one mentioned the fact that a box with adequate ventilation can provide shade in the summer. When you are moving down the road a dog in a bed is happy, but if you have to stop and that valero doesn't have shade it must get hot. Of course, we are always seeking out the shady spot even with a box because every little bit helps.

We had a kid run up to pet lizzie last night while we were cruising the neighborhood on the mule. We pulled in to talk to some down the road neighbors and the kid was in lizzie's face before anyone knew what happened. All our dogs are kid broke, so the kid was never in real danger, but regardless of whether the dog was behaved or not the kid got a good scolding from his mom. I really think that purely city folks are less likely to teach their kids what we consider common sense behavior when it comes to animals. The kid in our neighborhood was taught on the spot when he approached a dog he didn't know because his parents have livestock and dogs. I think city families lack the animal experience and the idea that there are dogs being taken out in public may not be friendly is foreign to them. For all they know, that truckload of dogs may be headed for the dog park. On the other hand, I can't pay a parent in the city to let their kids pet our bulldogs unless they are a bulldog family.

Anyway, I rambled. Point is that average city folks lack country values much of the time.

Cheers
M