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Seriously.
It was a 30-ish year old woman, reasonably "normal" looking. She knocked on the door, I answered, and she said that she'd seen my dog out playing on our large, second-floor, covered back deck (where he stays when the weather is mild, because likes being outside and it's safe for him there). She then proceeded to ask if I'd be willing to give him to her.
I was just shocked--who in the world DOES something like that? I could kind of understand it if he'd been tied up in a backyard or locked into his crate all day--that's no way for a dog to live, and plenty of people feel very strongly about that (including me). But he had food, plenty of water, his toys, his chew bone, a 20-foot by 8-ft totally-shaded deck that's 15 feet up off the ground with banister fencing all around it, and he wasn't crated or tied up or anything. Our back deck is like a big playpen for him, and since we don't have a yard, it's the next best thing to one. He can run and hop and roll and bounce and have fun out there, whereas he has to behave himself inside. He even has a doggy door (a piece of screening that's only attached to the screen door at the top) so he can come back inside whenever he wants to. We always leave that door open during good weather, when Toby's outside on the deck.
I just stood there shocked for a moment, told her NO, and then went back inside. She seemed really upset and disappointed, and it took her a good five minutes to finally leave my front porch. I've thought about it and thought about it, and the only rational explanation I can come up with is that she either mistook our house for someone else's house (maybe someone who advertised a dog for giveaway?) or she's a Golden Retriever fanatic/backyard breeder who saw how gorgeous our dog is and wanted him--either as a pet, or as a stud (he's not neutered, and his Boy Bits are hard to miss, even from ground level out back).
Either way, it creeped me out. I locked the doors and brought Toby inside just in case. If she WAS some kind of backyard breeder or mentally-ill Golden fanatic, I didn't want to take the chance that she'd find a way to steal him or hurt him somehow.
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