A dangerous man or merely an eccentric dog lover?

There are some decidedly strange people cruising the highways and byways of this weird place known as America, and you never know when you'll run into one of them.

I was out walking our chocolate lab Aquinnah on a quiet side street the other day when Quinn, as we call him, stopped to sniff a patch of grass beside the road. I had my back to the street, but when I heard a car stop directly behind me, I turned around. A smiling middle-aged man in a beat up Volvo sedan rolled down his window and held up a dog biscuit.

“Does your dog like treats?” he asked.
 
My heart skipped a proverbial beat. What? Did this guy really think I’d accept a biscuit from a complete stranger and give it to my dog? Would a mother take candy from some passing motorist, and give it to her child? Maybe this fellow was nothing more than a well-intentioned dog lover who keeps biscuits in his car to have them on hand when his own pup is riding shotgun. Or maybe he was something else entirely.

I quickly noticed that there was no pooch in that Volvo. A chill ran up my spine, and I envisioned conflicting headlines in my mind's eye. "Dog lover spreads joy with free biscuits," one read. "Beloved pet felled by poisoned treat," read the other.

“We’re going home now and I’ll give him one when I get there,” I answered, trying to sound polite rather than freaked out.