Keep Your Dog on A Leash

I spent the day with my beautiful baby girl. We read books. We played with blocks. We watched some Winnie the Pooh. She helped her daddy pick some horses – gotta pay the rent some how. Okay, we didn’t really go to the race track, but we did go to the neighborhood park. We always find time to go to the park when we hang out. I push her on the swings. I make sure she doesn’t fall when she climbs the sliding board ladder or figure some other way to maim herself. Today we had a different experience, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. After we had done the swing thing and the slide thing LMJ started running around, up and down some hills. We go to the top of a hill and I looked up and saw a dog heading right for us. It was some kind of golden lab mix. I’m not afraid of dogs at all. My time selling newspapers door-to-door taught me that if you’re nice to a dog, a dog will be nice to you 99 times out of 100. I’m deathly afraid of dogs running at my baby girl. I don’t know if it’s to her credit or not, but LMJ stood there like nothing was happening. I got between her and Chloe – that’s the dog – so Chloe wouldn’t barrel into her full speed. Chloe was a sweet dog as she licked my hands when I let her smell them – greeting dogs 101 – and my fear, which quickly turned to anger, moved from Chloe to her a-hole, stoner owner. Dude had a Star Wars Rebel Alliance insignia tattooed on his calf. NEWSFLASH: Dogs are predators, and therefore dangerous. Dogs off leashes in the street are a huge pet peeve of mine, especially when the dog isn’t trained and weighs more than fifty pounds. Chloe’s owner is now chasing her around the park trying to get her back inside his apartment. LMJ is watching the whole incident hoping Chloe comes back so she can pet her. I felt a little bit stuck because even though Douche McGee was apologizing, he wasn’t fixing the problem. He didn’t even have a leash in his hand, and Chloe didn’t have a collar. Normally, I would have lectured him about dogs and leashes and laws and euthanasia. If MJ or CG had been there he would have heard about it, but I was by myself and LMJ’s safety was my primary concern, so I was nice. LMJ’s primary concern was petting a dog. Douche also had a miniature greyhound witout a leash. LMJ was slightly offended that the little rat was afraid of her. I thought it was funny. My problem is that I know screaming at the guy wouldn’t have solved anything, but I don’t think he learned that his dogs need to be on leashes, and I’m unsatisfied with how the situation ended. Chloe went inside when she was done smelling stuff, and Douche just shook his head while apologizing. Why isn’t this going to happen tomorrow and how long will it be until Chloe runs into someone who’s afraid of her or just doesn’t like dogs? Why is it so hard not to be a douchebag?