One of my favorite parts of our trip across the country was visiting cities like Boston, Dallas and San Francisco that offered pet-friendly public transportation. I read that Chicago was another city which welcomed pets on board public transportation, but we found out this morning that there are some major stipulations.
As we walked to the turnstile this morning I was called over by a city worker who informed me that Eko wouldn’t be allowed on the subway. She let me know that while pets are allowed on public transportation, the requirement is that they must ride in a small carrier.
While walking back to the apartment I realized that the employee didn’t say larger pets were not welcome, she just said that pets must ride in a small carrier. That got me thinking. Maybe I could get Eko on the subway – I just needed to find the right carrier.
And so my friends, I present a step-by-step process to find a pet-carrier for a 95 pound dog.
Step 1: “Paper or plastic?” – It turns out that although both paper and plastic bags are excellent for carrying groceries, they do not fare so well at carrying Eko
Step 2: “Think outside the box” – I thought outside the box and came up with the idea to put Eko inside the box. It looked like a tophat on his head, but I was not deterred
Step 3: “Realize the box isn’t going to work” – Eko could fit one leg in the box, but I knew we needed to upgrade the size and material of our carrier to have any shot at getting on the subway
Step 4: “Will, are you serious? Why don’t we just drive?” – It was around the time that I put Eko inside my trusty leather bag that he started to question my sanity. I tried to explain to him that we had to do this based on principle, but he instead agreed to do it based on the principle that I was feeding him treats the whole time.
Step 5: “Consider the implications of lifting a 95 pound dog that is standing in a bag” – In a moment of clarity, I realized that my experiment may not be a good idea
Step 6: “Have the dog sit down in the leather bag and convince yourself to continue” – The point of no return
Step 7: “Prep for liftoff” – I can’t understand why Eko wasn’t smiling
Step 8: “Success” – See you on the subway!!
Now, am I going to win the Nobel Prize in Physics for my experiment? Probably, but that’s not why I did it. Luckily, I have a car, so Eko and I are free to roam the city, but there are plenty of pet-owners out there with bigger dogs who are not as fortunate. Maybe Eko and I can make a few calls while we are in Chicago to let the city know about the successful pet-friendly transportation programs we found. Fear not big dogs, your day will come!
