Nope Nope Nope- You are all wrong-’before cars were even invented, my grandfather used to take his buckboard pulled by his favorite horse Nellie, with his dog, down into town to get a drink. Since he wasn`t sober, someone would put the reins on the front seat [only seat] while my grandfather slept it off in the back of the buckboard. His dog would sit on the seat with the reins in his teeth and Nellie would trot back home and unceremoniously stop at front porch where my grandmother would promptly curse at the horse since my grandfather couldn`t hear anything anyway... True story. Dogs do not to ride - they want to DRIVE.
Our grandparents must have been neighbors! Grandpa always told us this story about seeing a dog driving a buckboard! Then, he’d start singing these old Norwegian sailor songs and Grandma would hide his whiskey bottle and then Grandpa would tell us the story about the cow pushing a wheelbarrow and then he’d fall off his chair. Kids nowadays just don’t get that kind of memory-maker.