Pardon My Rant

Forgive me for I am just really so very tired…the last few weeks are catching up with me.  I’m extremely low on carbs which probably isn’t helping the state of mind I’m in at the moment. But I have had 5 days in a row of absolutely perfect for me eating/calories/fat/carbs/protein.  I have been walking almost 2 hours every day. One hour in the morning with my parent’s beagle and somewhere between 30-45 minutes with my miniature dachshund after dinner and lots of incidental walking in between all day. My rant is not about the damn scale not showing me any love. noooo…my rant is this:

for the love of human beings, neighbors and animals PUH-LEEAASSSEEE make sure your dogs can’t get out of the back yard! Don’t leave your dogs unsupervised if you do leave them outside at times. 

I have had more bad/negative experiences in the last 10 years (mostly on my bike) being chased as fast as my legs could go with barking, growling, aggressive DAMN SCARY dogs just trying to protect their little section of the public street.  I have had so many that it’s caused me to alter many of my fav bike routes over the years just to protect myself from these dogs. I have written letters to the editor and commiserated with other cyclists and people. I have observed wide differences in humans and how they treat their dogs based on their geographical location in a 50 mile radius.  I am a bike rider, yes, but I am NOT a Tour de France road cyclist. It took EVERY ounce of strength and adrenaline to escape those misguided dogs in the past.

These past experiences are just that. In the past. Fast forward to now and all the daily walks over the past couple of years with my dogs. We have been ambushed more times than I care to remember by bigger, meaner, badder dogs. My miniature dachshund has been bitten by a roving bulldog mix one street over whose owner did not care one iota what happened. We’ve had many brushes with more loose, roaming dogs that are just downright uncomfortable for both of us as there isn’t much protection when you’re miles from home, on foot, armed only with a cellphone and your own body.

It makes me want to scream that some dog owners don’t take their responsibility as seriously as I do and all the other good dog owners. 

This morning it happened again while I was walking my parents’ dog. The other dog was a lab mix that was ENORMOUS. It’s fur was standing up all along its back as it lunged at my parents’ beagle. My parents’ dog is ALWAYS super friendly and laid back and expects every other dog and person to be the same. She has never ever been aggressive toward another dog. But this monster lab mix intimidated her. AND ME! I felt so afraid that I couldn’t protect either one of us. I tried to make this big dog go away and it just circled us over and over again. it was HORRIBLE!! And no other neighbors were in sight to help us out. Elco (my parents dog) actually sat down, put her ears back and looked so different than when she meets others dogs.  I didn’t know whether to pick her up and try to run or wait it out. 

I’ve had all day at work and at home tonight to mull this over.  Time has only made me angrier that this still happens. I know there are “REAL” world problems that are screaming for rants and action.

I just needed to vent that I’m sick and tired of other people inflicting their “what they think are perfect and perfectly behaved dogs” on other people and dogs because they are careless and nonchalant. 

Leashes. Pick up the poop. Socialize them. TRAIN THEM. PROTECT THEM. LOVE THEM. RESPECT.