Rambling with Words

Friday, August 16, 2002

Barefoot and loose dogs

I took the long way around to work which starts with taking a bus around to Country Club and down to Speedway. Then I walked west to work, which is nice just because it keeps the sun out of my eyes. I took my shoes off at Himmel Park and walked most of the way to work barefoot. This is a nice stretch because you have the grass at Himmel and at the U of A Mall at both ends and between is sidewalk. I've tried walking barefoot down First but the first mile and a half has too many stretches without sidewalks.

It was so nice walking through the damp grass and splashing in a few puddles where they had just watered. Now that people are pretty much trained to clean up after their dogs and dogs aren't allowed to run loose you don't have to worry about stepping in dog doo. For me one of the signs of a civilized society is not having dogs run loose. Not only do they trash up grass with their doo-doo but they scare me. You never know if a strange dog is going to attack, no matter how ok they seem at first. I'm even scared of the ones in yards who throw themselves against the fence in a frenzy when I walk by. I just know that one of these days the fence is going to give way and they'll be at my throat. I'm not scared of dogs when they are with their owner, whether or not they are on a leash, just of dogs running loose, or that seem like they are about to run loose.

Of course, I hear that some people consider no pedestrians to be a sign of civilization but these people are paranoid of anyone different from them. No pedestrians is a sign of chaos and anarchy when people are afraid to be outside. I don't want to live in a society like that. Dogs are even welcome in my society, they just need to be restrained. Actually a well trained dog is fine on their own but most people don't want to spend the time or money training their little poochie woochie so PW grows up to be a menace to society. I feel that dog owners need to be treated like gun owners. I don't mind anyone having either one but they both need to be held responsible for any harm that is caused by their dog or their gun. Strictly responsible. A pitiful little "Well, I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt" or "I didn't have time to train it/put it away/secure it" just don't cut it. They need to be held legally responsible.