A conversation with a guard in the Croatian History Museum. It started off with him commenting on how calm Klara was.
This is how the conversation continued (some minor details might have been changed):
Guard: What do you feed your dog? Do you cook for her?
Me: No. She eats regular dry dog food. And whatever food our kids drop on the floor at dinner. [I half-laugh stupidly, I’m at the door, leaving.]
Guard: Does she stop eating when she’s not hungry?
Me: Excuse me?
Guard: If you kept putting food in her bowl, would she keep eating?
Me: I don’t think so, no. She leaves food in her bowl if she’s not hungry.
Guard: So it’s impossible for dogs to get fat?
Me: Dogs can get fat. If they eat too much and don’t get enough physical exercise, they can get fat. Klara runs a lot though, so she’s pretty fit.
Guard: You trained her to run?
Me: Not really… [Who “trains” their dog to run?! Even stranger: what kind of person doesn’t understand that dogs know how to run?]
Guard: Do you think that, if your dog ate a lot and trained a lot, she could grow very big?
Me: No. She’s already an adult dog, this is the size she’ll stay. [Is this really true though? Or would a better dog owner get their dog a gym membership?]
Guard: Is she smart? She looks very smart.
Me: Thank you. I think she’s adorable, but maybe not too smart. [I’m smiling goodbye now, ready to leave. Until…]
Guard: Do you think she could tell you what to do?
Me: Huh?
Guard: Do you think your dog could order you to do stuff if she were bigger?
Me: I’m not sure I understand what you mean? [What does he mean?]
Guard: I mean, do you think dogs could be our rulers? And tell us what to do?
Me: I’m still not sure I understand… [?!]
Guard: Do you believe that dogs could rule the Earth?
Me: Um, no, I don’t think so. Not in the same way humans can give dogs commands. [What am I saying?!]
Guard: So you don’t think animals could rule the world?
Me: No. [I think?!?!]
Guard: Did you hear about those reptiles from space? Could they rule the world? If they came to Earth? What do you think?
I’ll just leave this here. I don’t want to influence your thinking, but this guard could possibly be the one single person on Earth who figured out a connection between dogs and the reptiles from space. Who sound pretty powerful, by the way. You do what you want with this information, but I might start giving Klara less food. I can’t risk her bossing me around.