Leash

Those who know me are more than a little aware that I recently became the owner of an adorable 3-year-old Shiba Inu named Skye. It is a fact that Shibas are among the most adorable of all dogs. If you don’t believe me, click here. Do it, then come back to this blog. I’ll wait.

Okay, so now that you’ve seen it for yourself, you can see why I immediately fell in love with Skye. And as a good owner, I do what I can to treat my dog well, including taking her on two or three walks daily. It is probably no surprise to you that I run dog walks with the ruthless efficiency of a German prison guard (that’s my polite way of saying Nazi.) We have our target pace, we have a job to do, and we get it done. There is no acting out. No leaving poop on the sidewalk. No indiscriminate barking at housecats. And there is always a leash.

I am not opposed to unleashed dogs. I think they are perfectly reasonable within the confines of a home or an enclosed yard. But they are never okay on a walk on public streets. First of all, there are laws against that. Here’s the law from my community: “No person, being the owner, or having charge of any dog, cat or other domestic animal shall permit it to run at large upon any public property, including sidewalks, rights of way and streets, or upon the premises of another. ‘At large’ means not under the control by leash, cord, chain, tether or other physical control device.” That is the law. It’s not a suggestion, it’s not something to do if you feel like it, it’s the law.

Now here’s what I bet some of you are thinking: “Sure, that law makes sense, but not for my dog. My dog is good.” Here is a fact: your dog may be good, but when your dog is unleashed, he is a complete asshole. Your dog is exactly the kind of dog who runs down the sidewalk like a stupid jerk, not answering to your calls because you are too lazy to train it, and who runs up to my dog, who is appropriately leashed and under control, and tries to eat her. And I resent other dogs trying to eat my dog. Your unleashed dog then forces me to yell, “Come get your dog right now!” even though that should have been your obvious response when your dog took off, instead of what you did do: continued talking on your cell phone in your ugly sweatpants and moccasins. And yelling, “No, she’s all right,” is not an appropriate response. Of course your dog is all right. You let her terrorize other people for fun – she’s great! But then you force me to yell back, “My dog is not all right!” And all of a sudden, I am that lady on the street. The crazy bitchy dog lady.

I am tired of having to put my body between my dog (appropriately leashed) and your dog (not leashed, not trained, and very very bad.) I have owned Skye for about 6 months, and I’ve had to put my body between her and another dog five times. Not because the dog accidentally escaped from a home or a yard, but because the dog’s stupid owners could not bother to put the dog on a leash. One owner, after his dog harassed Skye for a good five minutes, succeeded in calling his dog away – just in time for the poor dog to run out into the street into oncoming traffic. Thankfully the car was able to stop, but Skye and I are still traumatized (she is in therapy!) I had to punch one dog, some kind of pitbull mix, who was running the streets a full half block from his master, right in the face. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t know what else to do.

Ultimately, leashing your dog is a community issue. Just as you expect me to keep my teenage son from driving his car willy-nilly through your front yard while your children play there, I expect you to keep your dog from recklessly running amok while my dog is trying to enjoy the sights and smells of the neighborhood. So just leash your dog.