Governor Jeb Bush is about to sign a bill in Florida that will make it legal for you to have your dog to dinner — not for dinner — but to dinner. You'll be able to take your dog to a restaurant, at least to the outdoor dining part of the restaurant.
You only have to google "dog population" to figure this one out. People in the United States have an estimated 60 million dogs. That's twice as many as the No. 2 dog-owning nation, Brazil.
Sixty million dogs is a lot. It's as many dogs as people in countries like France and Iran. Any way you count it... a lot of dogs.
So people want to take their dogs with them. I see little dogs on the airplanes all the time. They're in those carry on bags that fit under the seat. You hardly know the dog is there except when it yaps once in a while.
But I guess Jeb Bush is right. You never see dogs in a restaurant, unless it's a hippie joint with sprouts sticking out of the sandwiches.
I have a dog I'd like to take with me everywhere. Tex is a great dog. He likes to deflate soccer balls and he'd love to come in the restaurant. He wouldn't bother anyone. He'd just sit there staring at me and hoping I'll give him some of whatever I've ordered.
I've got two more great dogs: Zoro and Charlotte. You could never take them into a restaurant. They need five acres to go for a quick run and they'd just end up chasing each other around and tripping the waiters. That would be the end of the dogs in the restaurant law.
But I understand how people would like to take their dogs to dinner. I'm just not sure I'd like to be having dinner with somebody else's dog. Dogs are personal. You tend to love yours and wonder what other people see in theirs.
But one thing is for certain: Governor Jeb knows a voting base when he sees one. Americans own 60 million dogs — that's a lot of votes. If a certain Massachusetts senator had just gone for the dog vote we might just have a president who speaks French right now.
Think about it: it could change politics. The dog vote rises up for something and the world changes. Mark my words.
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