So I was driving over to campus and saw something that I thought was kind of weird and I want to get your thoughts on it.
(Laughs) OK, what happened?
There was a guy, with his wife in the front seat and two kids in the back of the car and I thought I saw something up on his dashboard, and when I looked closer I saw it was a puppy. Like, a living, breathing baby dog. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that?
That it should be in a seatbelt.
But doesn’t it concern you that, not only is the puppy up there, but that he is playing with/petting a puppy when he’s operating a motor vehicle?
Oh, well you didn’t tell me that he was playing with it.
Yeah, he was up on the dashboard right by the steering wheel and the guy was kind of petting it and playing with him.
Yeah, that’s a little dangerous.
What’s your main concern there? Is it for the puppy’s safety or for the family that the guy is driving around?
The family’s safety. That’s like driving and talking on the phone or texting.
Except that’s a living animal that he’s playing with. How does that change things?
(Laughs) It’s a little effed up.
What if it was a mean puppy, would you not be upset? Because this was a cute little weiner dog puppy. But what if it was as pit bull puppy or Rottweiler puppy?
I feel like that would be fine. As long as it wasn’t huge, as long as it wasn’t a full-grown dog I think that it’s fine.
So you can just have a puppy up there?
Yeah. I think that’s cute. Have you ever seen the people with the puppies in their laps? I think that’s so cute.
Yeah, but this puppy was on the dashboard. Not only is that distracting, it’s also dangerous.
That’s true, his kids could die.
What if he had a little puppy car seat? Instead of a little chihuahua bobble head he could have a puppy safety seat up on the dashboard, would you be OK with that?
No. That’s distracting. I would be down with it if it was in his lap. I’ve driven with my dog in my lap before. Just as long as it’s off the dashboard and not in your vision, then I think that’s OK.
