WHO NEEDS PARIS Hilton with her fashionable purse-size, crook-of-the-arm accessorizing dogs when you have the people of Florida?
I mean, look at this fashionable couple pushing their fashionable, and I assume spoiled, dogs in strollers at an outlet center between Naples and Fort Myers.
They caught the attention of passersby and the paparazzi, aka my oldest daughter and her friend, Laura, who snapped this image. The vacationing Minnesotans, who would have preferred warm weather (they got 60 degrees) and the beach to people and dog-watching at the mall, found the quartet rather amusing.
Maybe I should tell them to stake out The Fashion Bug in Dundas, next to Kmart. Several years ago I was perusing the racks of women’s clothing there when a woman walked in with a purse-size dog snuggled in her arms.
And, no, she looked nothing like Paris Hilton.
© Copyright 2010 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Photo courtesy of Laura, from Minnesota
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Dogs aren’t allowed in at the Minnesota State Fair, and one of my favorite stories was telling a lady who had a custom built double dog stroller for her two dogs that they weren’t allowed in. She was extremely upset and did the whole “Don’t you know who I am?” routine. I just smiled politely and said, “No ma’am, I don’t, but it doesn’t change the rule. No dogs are allowed.”
“Don’t you know who I am?” I love that story, Sara. Good for you to stand your ground. How did the woman react?