In Winterset, each Friday morning from 8:15 to 9 a.m., a member of the Madison County Chamber of Commerce hosts coffee for fellow members. Thirty or forty people generally show up to enjoy a cup of joe and socialize on the last morning of the work week.

This past Friday, Winterset Parks & Rec hosted at the new, nearly-complete dog park on the east edge of town, out near our primary soccer fields. The compound includes spacious areas with beautiful gates and fences for both small and large dogs and will have doggy water fountains, benches for people, and of course clean-up-after-your-dog baggie dispensers.

My dog Scrabble weighs about eighteen pounds, which would qualify her for the small dog area, but, we probably won’t be going. As a puppy, the opportunity to make dog friends just didn’t happen, and when she was older she was twice(!) jumped by other dogs, and bitten, both times while attached to her leash.* At a dog park, Scrabble, who’s never met a human she didn’t adore, would undoubtedly want to hang with the owners.

A couple of years ago, on a day Scrabble had been to the hairdresser, I took the opportunity to wash the little harness she wears as a collar. Her license and rabies tag, with our phone number scratched on the back, hook to the clip at the top. While the harness was drying, she barked to go out, and as I opened the door for her, she looked naked to me without her harness. “Oh dear, she doesn’t have her ID!” went though my mind.

The thought of an actual dog ID card seemed hilarious, so I decided to fashion one for her on my computer, using my Iowa Driver’s License as inspiration. I included date-of-birth, eye color, and restrictions (leash).

Scrabble doesn’t actually need an ID card. She has an embedded chip, plus she doesn’t carry a purse.

*Loose dogs are rare in Winterset. We were simply unlucky.