I’ve been taking the T to my summer job, and I wanted to share this little experience I had one day. It was rush hour, so it was of course absolute madness – I was holding onto a pole for dear life. I felt something hairy against my leg, and looking down I saw a big black lab. “There’s a dog rubbing against my leg. It feels kinda nice, though,” I said to my friend, Chip. Half the train burst out laughing. See, this is one of those things that you don’t think about until after you say it.
But anyway, the guy with the dog soon left at Downtown Crossing, along with many other people on the train. Now sitting, I said to Chip that it would’ve been mean to tell the guy that dogs aren’t allowed on the T (I know for a fact that it wasn’t a service dog). Someone sitting a few seats over (complete with muscles and tattoos) piped up and said “That’s wrong. Dogs have always been allowed.” Now I could’ve just agreed with him or just said nothing, but my big mouth had to say “Where did you get your information?” “I’ve lived here for 12 years,” said the guy. “Well so have I!” I said a bit too loudly. “The only dogs that aren’t allowed are pit bulls and Rottweilers,” the guy said. Finally I stopped talking, but I told Chip to remind me to do some research on the matter.
So it turns out we were both partially right. Dogs are allowed on the T (something I didn’t know/expect), but not during rush hour. So I was right in saying that he wasn’t supposed to have a dog with him.
Ha.