“advice on what to do if you see someone horribly mistreating their dog on a walk?”

“Dear PoPville,

I wanted to write and seek any advice on what to do if you see someone horribly mistreating their dog on a walk. On Tuesday night, 1/22, I was walking my dog on 18th between Ontario Road NW and Summit Place NW around 930pm and saw a man walking with his very large dog, which looked like a Rhodesian Ridgeback, though I’m not certain the breed. I saw him pulling the leash when the dog tried to sniff something, and not just a light pull to redirect attention, but hard enough that the dog was yanked across the sidewalk. As we passed, the man seemed nice enough and said “Oh he’s a big friendly puppy” and kept walking. I turned around to watch as he walked away and the yanking of the dog just seemed to be getting worse. He was just a puppy, so he clearly had a ton of energy and he was large enough that I’m sure he is hard to handle. The dog went to pee and he paused, let the dog walk ahead of him a bit, got his footing sturdy, then pulled the leash back so incredibly hard that the dog spun around 360 degrees. He did this about 3 more times before getting to the end of the block and the last time he did it, after the dog spun full circle, he wrapped the leash around the dogs neck until it ran out and was choking and yelling at him. The dog didn’t yelp or cry, but every time he did it, I thought he was going to snap its neck. I’m not even sure a harness would have been safer since the force he was pulling could have caused more harm than good.

As a young woman walking alone (my dog was about 1/4 the size of his) I was too nervous to confront him, and there was no one else on the street. He turned onto Ontario, which is a little busier and better lit, so I am hoping someone else better equipped saw and said or did something. I’ve never seen him on our walks so I’m not sure if he lives in the area or if anyone else has seen him walking. I probably should have acted faster and tried to get a video but I was in such shock I couldn’t. I’ve never seen someone treating an animal like that so out in the open without a care who saw. I guess the question is, is there any protocol for when you see something happening like this? Does it warrant a call to 911? Or mind your business? Was it just his way of training it and I was overreacting? I’m kicking myself now for not doing anything in the moment, but I really don’t know what I would have done that would have been a safe option.”