Real People are more barking than Made Up People

Any author would be tickled to receive fan mail in amongst the bills and letters assuring the reader that they have won a million pounds if only they will ring the number below and divulge all their bank details, date of birth, cat's mother's maiden name . . . But today's letter topped the lot as far as tickling goes.
I recently got into conversation with a lovely couple at a party who told me how they had met. He was a vet and the woman had brought her dog to him because it had an eye infection. The woman immediately fell for the vet's scintillating charm and fetching facial hair, whereas the dog immediately fell into a fit at the sight of his beastly beard. Sadly for the dog, the woman was so keen to see the vet again, that she kept inventing symptoms for her pooch that needed urgent trips to the surgery. In the end, the vet had to shave off his beard so that the dog would not prevent the happy couple from spending time together. I was flabbergasted, as a few years ago I had spent hours concocting this exact story in my book, PUPPY LOVE, thinking it to be an entirely original and hilarious work of fiction. Admittedly I had my female character wear a false beard to de-sensitise the dog to beards before the vet eventually had to give in and shave his off, but otherwise the stories were identical.
I sent the couple a copy of the book to show how their love had been immortalised in print in a book for children. This is the letter I received in thanks:

"What a wonderfully enchanting book! Despite saying Cuthbert [the dog] was "fine" with his beard, Graham [the vet] did shave it off before attempting to administer the next set of eye drops . . . AND . . . I'm ashamed to say my flirting was so outrageously obvious that even the veterinary nurses (all of them) worked out my intentions before Graham! AND . . . (to put the icing on the cake) when Cuthbert bit the postman a few years ago, he began a de-sensitisation programme. I borrowed an outfit from the local post office, kept it in the garage, and made everyone who knocked on the door put it on first! Your crazy fictional characters really do exist!!!"

How about that?