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Poor Pablo’s dance card near empty

3 min read

Pablo was clean-shaven and smelling nice. It was a Saturday afternoon, and he was about to have his first blind date. Even though Pablo would soon be turning 50, he lacked experience with females. He waited for her outside the garage.

Her name was Mandy, and she arrived on time, having been driven almost an hour for the meeting. She wore her new pink sweater.

It was not love at first sight. Pablo was interested, but Mandy wasn’t sure. Those first moments were filled with that tentative back-and-forth so typical of blind dates. Pablo would make a move toward Mandy, but she was reticent – and maybe a bit ambivalent. Pablo, an alpha male despite his inexperience, was growing impatient. What was with this girl? Finally, he made his move, perhaps an overly aggressive one.

Mandy reared back, raised a paw and swiped at his face. Sometimes a lady terrier just doesn’t want to be, um, clung to back there like that.

That’s how the owners tell the story of the introductory meeting of the two dogs. Mandy’s owners want puppies, and after a long search, they found Pablo – a 7-year-old terrier believed to be one of – if not the only – non-neutered male of the breed in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“Pablo’s dance card should be full,” said Kathy, his owner.

You would think so.

But watching that first meeting, the owners were probably not thinking “stud.” The first minutes, in Mary’s garage, the dogs sniffed around a bit and nosed each other in the face. Mandy was hanging back, but would allow Pablo to approach. But males are sometimes not as patient as females might like them to be, and that’s when things sort of fell apart for the young lovers.

Pablo was starting to get on Mandy’s nerves. After a few minutes, she’d had enough of his advances, and that’s when she smacked him. We’ve seen it a hundred times in the movies, and there it was, happening right there in the garage.

Maybe the mood wasn’t right this time, or maybe Pablo didn’t smell as nice as he thought he did. Maybe it was bad chemistry, and maybe it was bad timing, but Pablo and Mandy did not hit it off.

Poor Pablo. It’s pretty pathetic when you’re the only eligible male in your part of the state and you still can’t score with the ladies.

But there’s a season for everything, and Mandy’s season will come. Despite the iffy first date, there will be a second date. Pablo and Mandy will meet again this spring. Fingers and paws are crossed for a love connection, and puppies.

Beth Dolinar can be reached at cootiej@aol.com.

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