“PLEASE LEASH YOUR DOGS”

“Dear PoPville,

TO THE WHITE PIT BULL OWNER IN BRIGHTWOOD (and dog owners generally):

PLEASE LEASH YOUR DOG, EVEN IF THEY ARE FRIENDLY (and don’t be a d**k!)

Saturday afternoon, I was hanging out at a neighborhood park in Brightwood, sitting on a picnic blanket with my (leashed) dog at reclining by my side. The park was mostly empty except for at one point when a man passed by walking his (leashed) German Shepherd. He and his dog stayed at a distance and were totally fine. But the next thing I know, as I’m about to go back to my sketchbook, my dog starts freaking out and screaming bloody murder at something behind me. When I turn around, I see a third dog, an unleashed white pit bull, charging towards us.

The pitty actually seemed pretty friendly as it was running towards us BUT the problem was that 1) it did know how to take a hint when my dog was barking quite aggressively at it as it charged at us, thus coming right up into my somewhat reactive dog’s space, and 2) the owner was not initially in sight and it happened so fast that by the time I could gather enough wits to figure out how to intervene, this pitty and my dog were both fighting on TOP of me. At this point I was trying to figure out how to stand up without getting in the middle of the dog fight and getting my bare arms accidentally bitten off by either dog, while also simultaneously yanking back on my leash with one hand and stupidly trying to push the pit off with my other hand. Finally a second man came running across the park to pull his dog off of mine. He sort of briefly yelled at his dog but for the most part hurried off (without any kind of acknowledgement or apology to me, I should add).

Luckily, both dogs seemed to have escaped without any apparent injuries, although I did end up with some nasty scratching/bruising on my legs. Also worth mentioning that the German Shepherd that was there from the beginning was still on his leash and his owner had a good grip on him, for which I’m appreciative. I’m just glad it wasn’t me in the middle of all three of them. BUT all this to emphasize that this situation is preventable – PLEASE LEASH YOUR DOGS. Doing so doesn’t mean your dog is a dick or that you’ve failed as a dog owner. It means you are being conscientious of others’ personal space and safety (especially living in a densely populated city like ours).

Last part of this PSA/rant…the pit owner’s behavior was more bothersome to me than the dog’s. He ran off so quickly that I get the sense he was concerned about me filing a police report or somehow pressing charges. I don’t care about any of that but damn, a simple human “sorry” would have been nice, man!”

Another reader wrote over the weekend:

“an irresponsible owner with an off leash dog just watched as his dog killed a squirrel at the Southwest Duck Pond. He didn’t move to leash or call of his dog until people yelled. He also didn’t clean up and left the squirrel in the open.”