Oh, I need to give a setting for this first. It was a fabulous day on the California coast and we went over to San Juan Bautista to check out a course for a road ride my husband is doing in a few weeks. The dogs were with us and Groucho Too had just finished a five-hour full grooming over a three-day period of time. He was looking great! We decided to go to one of our favorite little Mexican restaurants that has a large outdoor section. There are animals walking around through the plants all the time and I knew that pets were welcome outside. We figured it was time to take the dogs into a restaurant with us and took them for a long walk around the SJB Mission where a wedding was going on before going to the restaurant. The restaurant was very crowded and a little noisy with a couple of celebrations going on there also. A harpist was playing and singing requests. Well, that is the setting for this story!
Enter two people with two large dogs. The maitre de said "table for four?" and took us to a great little table a short distance from the harpist that was large enough for all of us to be seated comfortably. My DH and I sat across from each other with a dog between us on each side. Hondo laid down and Groucho Too was staring off into space looking very regal and sitting up very straight. (Little did we know he had his eye on something.) I decided to go to the bathroom to wash up and left my DH with the two dogs. All was well for a few minutes, and then Groucho bolted across the restaurant, yanking his leash loose. It was flopping around and banging on other tables. He was in pursuit of a cat who he had been watching, and it finally decided to flee his stare. This restaurant is full of all kinds of potted plants, trees, and plants in the ground (about 1/4 acre of roses, cacti, and everything else you can imagine). Well, Groucho's leash got wrapped around some roses and stopped him cold. When I came out of the restroom, the dogs and my husband were gone and a lady at the next table said that my dog chased a cat. I walked back to the garden area and there was my DH with his hands all scratched from the rose bushes. Well, the dogs went back to the car, and we dined uneventfully after that, but for the very first time, the food (Chili Colorado) was not so good. Wonder why???