Dogs and Blogs

I am trying my best not to be one of those nutty dog owners who talks about his or her dog like it was a child. So please don't interpret this as another post about my new dog. It's more about communication and human connections.

Now that I walk Sr. Poncho twice a day, I end up having a lot of conversations about my dog, and the other person's dog. It's kind of neat because suddenly there is this instant bond. Anyone willing to walk their animal at 6 a.m. or at dusk, when the mosquitos are eating, clearly loves having a dog and being outside. So when two such people cross paths before even the coffee shops are open, the conversation can go from superficial to very personal in a matter of minutes.

I know some off-leash parks can be a scene for singles to mingle, but I'm not talking about that kind of connection. That's not too far removed from what happens at a downtown bar on a Friday night.

I'm talking about a connection that happens when I cross paths with someone, anyone, regardless of age, sex, or hotness, who wants to pet Poncho. Today two blue hairs stopped me to pet mi perro, and say El Ponch reminded them of the dogs they had growing up. One of the ladies grew up in neighborhood and talked about the (now developed) open acres of grass her dogs could run through.

Another guy had this surly mutt and contrasted his dog to Poncho of the No Barking Tribe. Suddenly we began talking about the whole nature/nurture debate, only applying it to dogs, not people.

Thes type of connections don't happen often, but they do seem similar to what happens when you have a blog. Suddenly you are connected to complete strangers and can have a meaningful dialogue beyond "Is the weather hot enough for ya?"

The key difference between blogging and dogging is the latter requires you to actually see a person face-to-ace and get off your ass, while the former is some skewed form of communication where we're all holed up in our offices staring at a computer screen. Even so, I think a parallel can be made between the two experiences.

Are there any other similar ways we connect with strangers so quickly? Outside of sports, weather, and "9/11 was really shitty," I haven't come across anything else.