Doggy Passengers

Yesterday my mom and I took the dogs for a drive. Lilah loves riding in the car for some reason and it's good for Ritter to see the world outside, even if it is a little blurry and muted. He used to hate riding in the car. It took herculean strength to lift his unwilling body into the car. Then he shivered and drooled in the back seat at first, the car racing along at the speed of 5 MPH. Not to mention he peed in my car when we tried to coerce him out...

I'm a visual person; I enjoy diagrams. And so you shall receive diagrams. Specifically diagrams of how the dogs are placed when we ride in the car. (Do not judge me by my poor textual diagrams)

P = People
L = Lilah
R = Ritter

One Person + Ritter

  - - -
[]      []
  P
      R
[]      []
  - - -

Two People + Ritter

  - - -
[]      []
  P   P
   R
[]      []
  - - -

One Person + Lilah

  - - -
[]      []
  P   L

[]      []
  - - - 

Two People + Lilah

  - - -
[]      []
  P  LP

[]      []
  - - - 

Two People + Two Dogs
  - - -                                 - - -
[]      []                            []      []
   P   P              or              P   LP
   R   L          sometimes           R
[]      []                            []      []
  - - -                                  - - -

Notice a pattern here?

Lilah has pretty much always ridden in the front seat. When she was a puppy, she typically sat in the front passenger seat, on the front passenger if there was one. It really made no difference if there was a person under her fuzzy butt or not. It was only recently that she started (forced) to ride in the back, perhaps to allay Ritter's fears.

So going back to the initial story, the dogs were riding in the back, and my mom and I were in the front. We stopped by the local BR to get some ice cream. I stayed in the car with the dogs while my mom went to purchase the ice cream.

As soon as the car door was shut, Lilah hopped into the front seat and quite prettily sat her rump down. When my mom returned, Lilah refused to move. She did however grace my mom with a look that boldly stated, "Yes? May I help you with something?" As is required in any stand off with Lilah, my mom pressed on determined, lowering herself into the seat.

What could Lilah do but yield? Lilah deigned to grant my mom half the seat and waited patiently for the drive to begin.