Doggin' My Walk

Mia and Princess come get me when it's just light enough to snap on the leashes and go for our morning walk. It's that time of the year when it's still in the 80s at 6 am, and right now the humidity is high, so the earlier we go, the better off we fare.

Up 2 blocks and 3 blocks over, on the west side of the busy "main" street, a man was walking his 2 dogs, either of which made Mia look petite, and she's a whopping 85 pounds of pure muscle! His dogs were leashed, so I didn't give him a second thought and kept on keeping on.

However, the suddenly pounding hooves of the pack of unleashed dogs coming at us alerted me to a potential problem: would they go after the man's 2 dogs or come after me? The man stood his ground and began throwing rocks at the pack of dogs, and I kept moving toward a field where there would be rock ammo for me, too. He, however, diverted the attack, the dogs left the area--and then the man began yelling at me!

"God damn city government! You'd think they'd do something about all these god damn dogs running loose!"

"Uh, it's not the city's responsibility: it's the owners who don't secure the dogs that are the problem," I replied.

"Well, if the god damn city would pick up the dogs and kill 'em, maybe people would start keeping their god damn dogs in their yards!"

Okay, great logic: keep your dog in your yard or the city will kill it. It's a simple and effective control tactic, but not what most of us would label either humane or legal!

I thanked him for sharing and kept on walking. Sometimes, the better part of valor is not engaging in a political discussion on the street at 6 am, especially when there is still a pack of uncontrolled dogs in the vicinity.

The rest of our walk was uneventful, with the same dogs barking at us as they do each morning, from behind fenced-in yards. One poor fella appears to have escaped his yard, but he was sitting next to the fence and barking, perhaps so his owner would come outside, see him, and let him back in. After all, there are packs of uncontrolled dogs everywhere in the neighborhood, and even the dogs know it's not safe outside the fence.

God damn city.