Miss Manners: She’s Bringing Her Awful Dog To Dinner And The Opera. How Can I Get Out Of This?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband and I, along with a friend, purchased hard-to-get opera tickets. We’ve looked forward to attending for many months. However, we just learned that our companion intends to bring her extremely unruly “comfort” poodle — not only to the opera, but also to a lovely restaurant for dinner beforehand. This dog is hyperactive and annoying; it is not a service animal that our friend needs for seeing or hearing. Now that we know the dog is going, we want to bow out of the engagement, but would prefer to do it in the least hurtful way.